Win or lose in November, more than 70 million Americans will likely cast their ballots for Trump. Most of them know who Trump is. They hear his vile words and heinous promises—and they like what they hear. They are the reason the election will be close.
Because people are dumb. And I don’t mean that in some flippant, off-hand, snarky way. I mean that in all dead seriousness. People are dumb.
The truest line ever written was from Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black.
“A person is smart. But people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.” The novelization of the film actually takes it a bit further and adds “A mob is only as smart as it’s dumbest member.”
Long story short, group-think skews towards the simplistic and instinctual. This election is close for the same reason that one scared cow will turn into a stampede even though the rest of them have no idea what they’re running from…because we’re wired to see that if other people are running, maybe we should be too…it’s a matter of survival.
A smart person can see past that and resist when they’re alone. But get them into a crowd of like minded individuals and we aren’t smart anymore. And people like Trump take advantage of that.
Because people are dumb. And I don’t mean that in some flippant, off-hand, snarky way. I mean that in all dead seriousness. People are dumb.
The truest line ever written was from Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black.
“A person is smart. But people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.” The novelization of the film actually takes it a bit further and adds “A mob is only as smart as it’s dumbest member.”
Long story short, group-think skews towards the simplistic and instinctual. This election is close for the same reason that one scared cow will turn into a stampede even though the rest of them have no idea what they’re running from…because we’re wired to see that if other people are running, maybe we should be too…it’s a matter of survival.
A smart person can see past that and resist when they’re alone. But get them into a crowd of like minded individuals and we aren’t smart anymore. And people like Trump take advantage of that.