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Implying that objections to Trump's narcissism and probable sociopathy amount to "culture war" is a staggering re-framing of reality. That combined with the ga

Implying that objections to Trump's narcissism and probable sociopathy amount to "culture war" is a staggering re-framing of reality. That combined with the gay-conservative-Christian thing suggest that the amount of cognitive dissonance Thiel can endure must truly be Olympic calibre.

tertius 10y ago
The Goldwater rule removes the strength of your statement regarding him being a sociopath.
- r00fus 10y ago
  Had to look that one up [1] So is it your understanding that shanusmagnus is a psychiatrist, or am I missing something? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule
  - shanusmagnus 10y ago
    I didn't know the term either, so thanks for digging it up. I'm close to, but not quite a psychiatrist, so I think I squeak through on a technicality :)
stcredzero 10y ago
Implying that objections to Trump's narcissism and probable sociopathy amount to "culture war" is a staggering re-framing of reality. How about this? The degree of disconnect between the lower middle-class and below versus the upper middle class and ruling economic elites in the US has become a rift large enough to drive a semi-truck through. So how were we surprised when in comes Donald Trump's semi-sized narcissism and sociopathy? The thing to ask yourself, as a member of the educated elite from either the left or right side of the political spectrum in the US: Have I understood and served all of those who have lost ground economically, or only "my side" while declaring the "other side" to be somehow unworthy and deficient? Trump and Sanders both demonstrate that for many in the US, the answer is the 2nd choice!
nikcheerla 10y ago
Accusations of cognitive dissonance are fruitless – there's a sizable block of 'gay conservative Christians' who probably think that you're experiencing cognitive dissonance and that their beliefs make sens given their worldview.
- shanusmagnus 10y ago
  I'm sure that's true about many, perhaps most gay conservative Christians. But Thiel is demonstrably a smart, capable, and educated person, which makes it all the more impressive that his worldview can apparently accommodate what amounts to wizardry, manifested through a dizzying array of fables whose magical interpretation violate both common sense and Occam's razor to a degree I can hardly begin to express. I can understand how this system of beliefs could seamlessly cohere in the minds of children or proto-humans. Thiel, and the rare others like him, are harder to fathom.
  - solipsism 10y ago
    It's not so hard to fathom if you abandon the mistaken idea that intelligence is a scalar value. Thiel's capacity to reason and function might be genius in some ways and crippled in others. This idea is most evident when you consider idiot savants (I'm not implying Theil is one).
  - Senji 10y ago
    Could you tip your fedora any harder if you tried?
  - 20yrs_no_equity 10y ago
    The "culture war" is this idea that just because we are gay we're supposed to be democrats. But you're ignoring that Hillary Clinton was campaigning against gay marriage from 1991-2013, basically up until the Supreme Court made the issue moot. It was Bill Clinton, with 3/4 of Congressional Democrats support who signed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 -- the last year I considered my self a Democrat. Not everyone who is a republican is a christian. I happen to be an atheist libertarian. Putting me in box, labelling it and then insisting that I must be experiencing "cognitive dissonance" if I'm not a democrat is ... not exactly a rational argument.
guelo 10y ago
Not to mention, the supposed uber-libertarian supporting government restrictions on free speech.
solipsism 10y ago
I keep seeing "cognitive dissonance" used in this way, and I think it's incorrect. Cognitive dissonance is not holding opposing views simultaneously. It's having a anxiety because of it. Although your usage could be taken in that way, I'd wonder why you think he experiences any cognitive dissonance at all.
- shanusmagnus 10y ago
  The dissonance construct is not only about anxiety; it's about structural inconsistency that manifests in a variety of ways, the best known of which is probably anxiety. It's actually a very deep idea that goes to the heart of representation, decision making, and cognition more generally.

tertius 10y ago

The Goldwater rule removes the strength of your statement regarding him being a sociopath.

r00fus 10y ago
Had to look that one up [1] So is it your understanding that shanusmagnus is a psychiatrist, or am I missing something? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule
- shanusmagnus 10y ago
  I didn't know the term either, so thanks for digging it up. I'm close to, but not quite a psychiatrist, so I think I squeak through on a technicality :)

stcredzero 10y ago

Implying that objections to Trump's narcissism and probable sociopathy amount to "culture war" is a staggering re-framing of reality. How about this? The degree of disconnect between the lower middle-class and below versus the upper middle class and ruling economic elites in the US has become a rift large enough to drive a semi-truck through. So how were we surprised when in comes Donald Trump's semi-sized narcissism and sociopathy? The thing to ask yourself, as a member of the educated elite from either the left or right side of the political spectrum in the US: Have I understood and served all of those who have lost ground economically, or only "my side" while declaring the "other side" to be somehow unworthy and deficient? Trump and Sanders both demonstrate that for many in the US, the answer is the 2nd choice!

nikcheerla 10y ago

Accusations of cognitive dissonance are fruitless – there's a sizable block of 'gay conservative Christians' who probably think that you're experiencing cognitive dissonance and that their beliefs make sens given their worldview.

shanusmagnus 10y ago
I'm sure that's true about many, perhaps most gay conservative Christians. But Thiel is demonstrably a smart, capable, and educated person, which makes it all the more impressive that his worldview can apparently accommodate what amounts to wizardry, manifested through a dizzying array of fables whose magical interpretation violate both common sense and Occam's razor to a degree I can hardly begin to express. I can understand how this system of beliefs could seamlessly cohere in the minds of children or proto-humans. Thiel, and the rare others like him, are harder to fathom.
- solipsism 10y ago
  It's not so hard to fathom if you abandon the mistaken idea that intelligence is a scalar value. Thiel's capacity to reason and function might be genius in some ways and crippled in others. This idea is most evident when you consider idiot savants (I'm not implying Theil is one).
- Senji 10y ago
  Could you tip your fedora any harder if you tried?
- 20yrs_no_equity 10y ago
  The "culture war" is this idea that just because we are gay we're supposed to be democrats. But you're ignoring that Hillary Clinton was campaigning against gay marriage from 1991-2013, basically up until the Supreme Court made the issue moot. It was Bill Clinton, with 3/4 of Congressional Democrats support who signed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 -- the last year I considered my self a Democrat. Not everyone who is a republican is a christian. I happen to be an atheist libertarian. Putting me in box, labelling it and then insisting that I must be experiencing "cognitive dissonance" if I'm not a democrat is ... not exactly a rational argument.

guelo 10y ago

Not to mention, the supposed uber-libertarian supporting government restrictions on free speech.

solipsism 10y ago

I keep seeing "cognitive dissonance" used in this way, and I think it's incorrect. Cognitive dissonance is not holding opposing views simultaneously. It's having a anxiety because of it. Although your usage could be taken in that way, I'd wonder why you think he experiences any cognitive dissonance at all.

shanusmagnus 10y ago
The dissonance construct is not only about anxiety; it's about structural inconsistency that manifests in a variety of ways, the best known of which is probably anxiety. It's actually a very deep idea that goes to the heart of representation, decision making, and cognition more generally.