The stupid vs. evil argument will never be satisfactorily resolved because they are so interrelated that they can’t be disentangled. Even saying “both” doesn’t provide satisfaction.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I do believe there is a third and fourth factor. Clumsiness and persistence.
The silence from former community college president Virginia Foxx of late has been an illustration of how that fourth factor provides some amount of relief.
And most of the other liars in Congress (save the Kings, Foxx when she speaks, and Goehmert) are much less clumsy.
It takes a willful suspension of logic to parrot what Bachmann says.
Who has persistence in this scenario?
Now that Bachmann has folded, it’s Goehmert and Steve King among some others. And if Allen West is offered a microphone.
You left out “crazy”, which complicates the problem. Are sociopaths evil or sick? Is the guy that leaves loaded guns in reach of a 2-year-old stupid or crazy? In the case of Bachmann, she either believes she’s channeling some god, which makes her either the follower of some really crazy UberMeister in the sky or just independently delusional; or she just can’t comprehend the inconsistency/illogic of her rhetoric, which makes her stupid; or she knows perfectly well that she’s spewing crap she thinks will benefit her career, which makes her evil.
You’re right about “both” being an unsatisfactory answer. Bottom line is, “stupid”, “evil”, and “crazy” are all just words we arbitrarily made up, and may turn out to mean nothing at all.
The temptation is to see stupidity or craziness as mitigating factors. It’s like anything where someone does something and you think, “WTF would they do that?
Is it that they just don’t know any better?
Did they really expect a different outcome?
Are they just that reckless or malicious?
With Bachmann, it’s this weird amalgam of “all of the above.”
So, too, with Bush.
Well she’s got her constituency.
Boo:
Did you see that “B-52” Ben gave the commencement address at your old stomping ground today? Because hos address makes me wonder if he’s indeed both. It’s like Benny has no idea who the Teahadists are, or doesn’t see what the ECB/IMF/World Bank et al. are doing to Greece.
I did see that he gave the commencement address, but the only reference I saw to it was positive.
Positive, why? Because he cracked a joke or two?
link doesn’t say why.
It’s greed, vanity, lust for power, arrogance, etc.
Yes, Bachman is indeed a champion of the imbecile class. Hu-rah! Could not have said it better myself. Well done Mr. Waldon.
Seemed to me the best part of this was that the staffer gushed about Bachmann while simultaneously connecting the dots of the campaign’s ethical breakdown and onward to the illegal activity. But all was ok because he and Bachmann shared their Christian faith.
Seems pretty clear to me, Boo. Evil is taking advantage of the stupid.
Stupid v. Crazy v. Evil v. All of the Above is a way to reframe the age-old progressive question: “Why, when the facts are on our side, don’t They (whomever “they” are at the moment) agree with us?” It’s a strategic question, because if they’re stupid or ignorant they can be educated; if they’re evil or crazy, it’s pointless.
All of which is so much hot air. For starters, most people aren’t reduceable to simple labels. More pointedly, many people I’ve met on the left over the years vastly overestimate the political utility of having the facts on our side. It helps, but only a little. Opponents can make up their own “facts,” with which, given enough time and/or money, they can sufficiently muddy the waters that other factors – passion, money, personalities, power politics – do far more to influence the outcome for any given issue.
Except as an amusing parlor game between episodes of Look at what this Teahadist idiot just said/did/believes, the stupid/crazy question is a distraction. Organize well enough, get enough money or passionate people behind you, execute smart strategies for advocacy or legislative paths, and they can be stupid or crazy or fart glittery rainbows and it won’t matter.
Teh Stupid and Teh Crazee have always been with us in this country, and always will be; the disproportionate influence that segment wields right now is due to a lot of factors, but the fact that gullible or cynical people exist like Bachmann (or her many, many less attention-grabbing, but no less moronic, colleagues) isn’t one of them. Those types were already around. I’m more concerned about the corporate money, complicit political media elites, economic dislocation, and spineless Democratic legislators (among many other factors) that help them get traction as purportedly reasonable, reality-based actors.
Teh Stupid and Teh Crazee have always been with us in this country, and always will be;
That’s the common clay of the new west you’re talking about there, pardner.
Both are the same anyway 🙂 http://linkapp.me/C9Rqb