stephen harper and the Dunning-Kruger Effect

Now, Please understand that I would never pay money for a book by Canada's most nauseating prime minister, stephen harper. I wouldn't even take the trouble to sign it out of the library. However, a couple of months ago I was at a friend's house and I saw that under the coffee-table he had a copy of harper's attempt at remaining relevant and masquerading as a "thinker" of weighty matters: Right here, right now: politics and leadership in the age of disruption. My friend (only an occasional follower of politics) said that he saw it and thought he should try to see what "the other side" is saying about the world. (He's a pro-union, non-racist guy. Socially liberal who enjoys his middle-class lifestyle.) He said that he started to read it but soon grew bored and then irritated. harper (he says) divides Canadians into "good" ones who believe in the things stephen harper believes in, and "bad" Canadians, who do not. And the first third or so of what my friend read was (according to him) harper simply asserting this principle no matter what the topic. My friend said he had no interest in reading further and that I could have it if I wanted it.

Well, actually holding the book in my hand and knowing that I could read it at my leisure, with no due date to return it, and having wasted no money on it, I gave myself over to the sadistic, morbid compulsion to read it the way people slow down to look at a traffic accident beside the highway. I know that stephen harper is a moron and a fraud so I know the book will provide me with loads of unintentional mirth. Also, given the sad fact stephen j. harper (despite his demonstrated absence of brain power) remains a strong influence, an >éminence grise of the intellectual vacuum that is the Canadian Conservative scene, perhaps it would be fun to expose him as the same dunderhead that he's always been. That by writing a book (or attempting to write a book) harper unwittingly validates the Dunning-Kruger Effect, to whit: He's a stupid man who doesn't know he's stupid and thereby stupidly imagines that the odours of his brain-farts are worthy enough to compile into a book that people are supposed to read and not laugh at.

For today's post I'm just going to deal with the quotes from the book that are featured (in the place of laudatory reviews from reputable critics that they obviously couldn't get) on the back cover.

ON THE AGE OF DISRUPTION: "This is an age of increasing disruption of all sorts --- one that is now having significant political impacts in even the most stable, advanced democracies."

Yawn. Vague. Useless.

ON PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I do not know whether Donald Trump's presidency will succeed or not. But what I do know is that the issues that gave rise to his candidacy are not going away."

Wow. What a brave stance to take!

ON PUBLIC POLICY: "The policy-maker has to understand why something is good public policy and continually calculate how it is playing out. And if it's not working out well for the public, in a democracy, you fix the policy; you do not denounce the public."

Holy fuck! Was Afghanistan good public policy? Especially since (as I pointed out here) you insulted the people for questioning that clusterfuck? Was austerity good policy? Was keeping nuclear reactors operating when they needed maintenance good policy? Was (as we'll focus on again) weakening railroad safety regulations good public policy? Was climate change denialism good public policy???Did stephen j. harper ever do anything that could be described as "good public policy" the entire time he presided over Canada? [Answer: NO.]

ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE: "Trade is complicated. It has winners and losers. Trade negotiations require clear-eyed knowledge and in-depth assessment. It is as possible to get a bad deal as a good deal. And political leaders have a responsibility to know the difference."

First of all, harper's commitment to free trade was based on ideological and not on "clear-eyed knowledge and in-depth assessment." Secondly, regardless of his own behaviour, I think we'd all have to agree that that statement is depressingly banal and useless.

ON IMMIGRATION: "The real key to a successful immigration system is convincing the  public that the system serves the national interest, that it is not injurious to working people, and that it is administered with integrity and consistency."

Remember; It's not to actually DO any of these things. It's to convince the public that you're doing these things. (Even when you're not.)

ON CONSERVATISM: "Conservatism is rooted not in abstract 'first principles' but in real-world experience applied to the needs of regular people."

More stupid bullshit. harper pursued a policy of ruinous tax-cuts, austerity and de-regulation based on nothing more than a crude ideology. Throughout the early chapters of his book harper will admit that recent policies (the neo-liberal consensus shared by both his party and the Liberals) have failed "regular people." So, he didn't follow his own advice. (From what I've read so far, harper will be trying to blame China for most of what went wrong.)

ON GLOBAL BUSINESS: "Get back to basics. Invest and hire. Contribute positively to the communities in which you operate and make sure the people you touch know about your enterprise and what you are doing for them. Distance your own firm from unnecessary controversy and bad business behaviour."

Ha-ha-ha! Don't forget to also eat food when you're hungry. And remember to distinguish between healthy food and rotten food. (Also stay away from eating vomit and shit.) Drink liquids when you're thirsty. (Make sure that they're not poisonous liquids before ingesting them.) Imagine the sort of person who would read that plodding drivel and find a revelation in it!!
So, I hope you enjoyed this post. I've only read a couple of chapters and they're so full of bullshit that felt that I should stop and deal with them (to the extent that I do anything anymore) before continuing with the book. I certainly don't want to waste anymore time than I have to on it.