When Willful Ignorance is a Way of Life

[Walker88]

To start out, I am no fan of the President Elect. Let me politely and with feigned respect call him PE, for brevity’s sake, plus so that my ears and eyes do not hurt hearing or seeing his name, and my tongue does not catch fire by saying it. Yes, all are welcome to call my feeling by some fictitious syndrome, if that gives people orgasmic bliss (especially the Incels, as that’s the best they can get orgasmically, unless they opt for onanism or pay for a tryst). All are welcome to wallow in their own ignorance, like dinosaurs ignoring the coming asteroid. While I could probably top "War and Peace" in terms of how long a tome I could write on why I have nothing but contempt for the guy, I will keep it as simple as possible: it is his willful ignorance that disturbs me the most.

 

Case in point: the guy has no clue what government does, nor does he care. I guess he’s also the Poster Child for the Dunning Kreuger Effect, because he thinks he knows everything he needs to know, plus how to make it better. We’ve all heard him say a hundred times, “Nobody knows more about [XXX] than I do”. I don’t know who this “Nobody” character is, but there must be billions of them, because even grade school kids know more than the PE about most everything.

 

The best illustrative example of where willful ignorance can bite you on the arse was written in a book and article by author and former Wall Street bond trader Michael Lewis. Back when 47 was merely 45, and much less dangerous than today, 45 fired the transition team set up by Chris Christie to introduce 45 and his Administration to the government behemoth they would soon be running. 45 thought---and actually stated---I can figure out how to run the government in an hour and a half. Funny he thought he could do that to a multi-trillion dollar entity employing millions and running everything from highways to the military to power generation to transportation, but he could never figure out how to run a profitable casino, where people literally stand in line to give you their money.

 

Coincidentally, I began writing this post just thinking about mistakes that might be made by aggressively shutting down agencies and firing people willy nilly, and the term ‘willful ignorance’ popped into my head. I then remembered articles written by Michael Lewis about PE Transition 1.0 in 2016 and searched them out. In the article to which I link at the end, there is this quote from Lewis:

 

“Here is where [the PE’s] willful ignorance plays a role. If your ambition is to maximize short-term gains without regard to the long-term cost, you are better off not knowing those costs. If you want to preserve your personal immunity to the hard problems, it’s better never to really understand those problems. There is a downside to knowledge. It makes life messier. It makes it a bit more difficult for a person who wishes to shrink the world to a worldview.” (We subsequently saw this in action when 45 downplayed and mishandled Covid......from February 26, 2020, then 45 said: "And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done." That's like congratulating yourself now for winning the next Super Bowl or World Cup.)

 

Lewis notes many seemingly necessary programs slashed in the 45 Administration, such as measures to enhance the electricity grid and protect it from cyber attack or national disaster, and cut all funding for research on climate change. Such things are when actions are driven not by knowledge or science, but merely by ideology or worldview. Lewis ends his Vanity Fair article with this:

 

“Indeed, if you are seeking to preserve a certain worldview, it actually helps to gut science. [45’s] budget, like the social forces behind it, is powered by a perverse desire—to remain ignorant. [45] didn’t invent this desire. He is just its ultimate expression.”

 

Let me rifle down to one example of just how willfully ignorant PE is and what effect it might have. 45 appointed Rick Perry, a guy I would guess has the IQ of a turnip, to run the Department of Energy in 2016. Recall that during the Republican primary of 2016, Perry had stated in a debate 3 government agencies he would close if he was elected President, although he couldn’t remember one he said should be closed, revealing himself to be the turnip he is. The one he could not remember in the debate was the Dept of Energy, an entity he was later appointed to run.

 

Now the mandate of the DoE is huge…unbeknownst to both Perry and the PE. They are in charge of everything from the electric grid to the US’ nuclear stockpile, A rational person would think it might be a good idea to keep an entity in charge of the nation’s power grid and its then-7800 nukes, but since “Nobody knows more about nukes than I do” (Yes, PE said that.), maybe rational people are not up to speed and should bow to PE’s 'encyclopedic knowledge'.

 

Now for a little history….back during WWII and the Manhattan Project, a facility was set up in Hanford, Washington to produce weapons grade plutonium, which was used in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The facility subsequently produced plutonium for upwards of 70,000 other nukes, most of which have been dismantled because of the various START treaties. That production generated a lot of dangerous radioactive and toxic chemical waste, some 56,000,000 gallons. It’s all still there, and there is a program costing $3 billion per year, both to keep it safe and clean it up. If this waste…which like the Hanford facility itself is on the banks of the Columbia River…made it into the wider environment, millions of people would get sick or die. If it made its way into the Pacific Ocean, forgetaboutit. Really dangerous, so it’s critical that the waste be monitored and cleaned up.

 

Guess which government agency is in charge of the Hanford waste? Yes, the very same Department of Energy PE’s Secretary Rick Perry wanted to close, with the approval of 45 himself. Just the Hanford program is 10% of the DoE’s yearly budget. Also note that Perry fell somewhat short of the credentials Obama’s SecEnergy---Ernest Moniz---brought to the table. Moniz has a Masters and PhD in theoretical physics from Stanford, and served as head of the Dept of Physics at MIT. He beats the turnip by a peck and a bushel. Moniz likely understood the risk much better than Perry or the PE.

 

Are even cult members beginning to see the danger of willful ignorance? That is just one part of one department in a sprawling government. How many other time bombs like Hanford exist in other departments and agencies?

 

Now we have the Elon and Vivek Show called DOGE, which is going to streamline government. Anybody think they will take the time to learn about Hanford waste-type issues hidden in other departments and agencies? Anybody? (Aside: Tesla released a beta version of its self-driving cars, but did not exactly get everything right. Musk said something on the order of “Well, you have to expect a few dishes to get broken along the way”. If your child gets killed because a Tesla ran a red light while the driver was munching Doritos in the back seat, I’m not sure that isn’t worse than a few broken dishes.)

 

Another part of PE’s plan is to make 50,000 Federal jobs political appointments, so that people can be fired at anytime for any reason. Anybody think each of those political appointments will be expert in things like handling 56,000,000 gallons of dangerous nuclear waste? Anybody? Or will they just be Friends of PE, such as major contributors or Fox Talking Heads or people who have said nice things about PE or bought a membership to Mar-a-Lago?

 

I have no doubt there is waste in government, and if a thoughtful and informed approach is taken, $billions could be saved. Unfortunately, “thoughtful and informed” and PE do not go together. An analogy can be taken from the first Ghostbusters movie, when the EPA guy ordered the Ghostbuster’s containment system to have its power shut down. All hell broke loose. Let’s hope life doesn’t imitate art.

 

The pressure is going to be there to do big things quickly. For the PE, everything is about the show, so he’ll want to produce one with great ratings early on, such as his plan for mass deportations and massive tariffs. Does anybody think a truly thorough analysis of all critical government departments and agencies will be carried out before people and monies such as those that keep the northwest safe from Hanford are slashed? Anybody?

 

With PE, his Dunning-Kreuger Effect Administration, Project 2025, etc., the odds are extremely high that there will be Hanfords that escape the cursory scrutiny of the bulls in the china shop, who will be PE’s team. We’re all going to pay a price for that, but as yet we don’t even know what that price might be. In Admin 2.0, there are no guardrails, but there is a certainty the PE knows everything. Dangerous.

 

Now go back to the willful ignorance that is the hallmark of everything PE and his cult.

 

Addendum: Michael Lewis wrote about the 2016 transition for Vanity Fair. It is written in Lewis’ usual entertaining style, and can be accessed here:

 

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/07/department-of-energy-risks-michael-lewis

 

 

 

[blaze master]

Looks like this was written by blueanon. Get a grip my goodness.