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I suspect we're ideologically fairly close though I did not vote for Sanders in the primary, I believe I actually skipped 2016 then voted for Warren 2020, but I

I suspect we're ideologically fairly close though I did not vote for Sanders in the primary, I believe I actually skipped 2016 then voted for Warren 2020, but I'd have been fine with Sanders though I agree he did have a fanatical contingent that was a bit off-putting. I don't think he actively encouraged that either. I've long worked with and even dabbled a bit in sales (which would have shocked a young hotpotamus to learn - it's basically the opposite of my natural inclinations). I was quite bad at it myself - I would often try to explain nuances to people and how they need to invest in their own skill as well as buying a good product. Salespeople who promised them simple solutions that would solve all their problems were far more successful, which was a bitter early lesson for me. What rankles though is that Trump is so transparently a buffoon - I can't believe it works for him.

tombert 3y ago
> I would often try to explain nuances to people and how they need to invest in their own skill as well as buying a good product. Yeah, this is (partly) why I was not a good professor/teacher. I don't think I was horrible at it, but I have a very strong compulsion to mention every bit of nuance in what I'm talking about. Sometimes that can be a good thing, but when a student is trying to learn introductory programming, getting into the weeds about how the textbook is "basically right but kind of simplistic because in this case..." really is not the right approach for teaching freshman students. I grew a new respect for teachers who learned to suppress those instincts and teach the simplified stuff. I almost think that Trump being an idiot works to his advantage. He's so utterly stupid that I think he's completely unburdened by any kind of nuance, and as a result it's very easy for him to speak authoritatively about everything, no matter how wrong he is.

tombert 3y ago

> I would often try to explain nuances to people and how they need to invest in their own skill as well as buying a good product. Yeah, this is (partly) why I was not a good professor/teacher. I don't think I was horrible at it, but I have a very strong compulsion to mention every bit of nuance in what I'm talking about. Sometimes that can be a good thing, but when a student is trying to learn introductory programming, getting into the weeds about how the textbook is "basically right but kind of simplistic because in this case..." really is not the right approach for teaching freshman students. I grew a new respect for teachers who learned to suppress those instincts and teach the simplified stuff. I almost think that Trump being an idiot works to his advantage. He's so utterly stupid that I think he's completely unburdened by any kind of nuance, and as a result it's very easy for him to speak authoritatively about everything, no matter how wrong he is.