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There was an NPR story about how our current president listened to a lot "Power of Positive Thinking" lectures/sermons early in his life. He really embraced tho
by HillaryBriss 10y ago
There was an NPR story about how our current president listened to a lot "Power of Positive Thinking" lectures/sermons early in his life. He really embraced those ideas.
Seems he's almost always trying to convince the world that a certain narrative about himself, the voters, and reality in general is true.
But this research adds an interesting wrinkle to that story. By making so many questionable statements publicly, maybe he's really just trying to convince himself.
And that's why, when outsiders try to tell him that his "facts" are not facts at all, it doesn't matter to him. He just repeats his original statement even louder. His public statements aren't for the rest of us. We're just the audience that adds some emotional intensity for him and the process in his own brain.
- dhimes 10y agoI also find anecdotally that people like that only surround themselves with people who repeat (or at least don't challenge) the lie. If you throw in some reality that is at odds with their belief then you don't get a seat at the table any more.
- NumberCruncher 10y agoHave you ever read discussions on HN about climate change?
- 1_2__3 10y agoThat's a tacky and pointless comment.
- NumberCruncher 10y agoI just tried to use a non-anecdotally counterexample.
- dhimes 10y agoI have absolutely no clue what you mean by it.
- mythrwy 10y agoI posted this a few weeks ago, it didn't get much traction but was an excellent read if you have been exposed to "Power of Positive Thinking" or it's spiritual predecessor "Think and Grow Rich". http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-untold-story-of-napoleon-hill-the-greatest-self-he-1789385645 http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-untold-story-of-napoleon-... Always kind of figured the authors were hucksters (not to discount whatever valuable insight they might actually have). The article somewhat confirmed my suspicion.