I just lost badly last month to a friend whom I play checkers with for a third time. Meet Mr. Robert King, resident of a local nursing home here in Northeast Alabama. The important thing about Mr. King is that he dropped out of school before the ninth grade and he is illiterate. I have a bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Have completed three courses in logic and argument through Coursera provided by Duke University. I was a volunteer teacher at one major state research institution, the University of Alabama, last month and will be at another one, the University of Georgia in February. At both of those institution’s Oschner Lifelong Learning Institutes. I will most likely receive political campaign training for a day from Yale University next year. I lost ‘fair and square’ to Mr. ‘K’ three times within a year.
Here’s how! God truly made everyone with gifts. Some are inclined in the liberal, creative arts. Others in mechanical and spacial endeavors. A few with emotional intelligence, (E.I.) with a master craft of reading and pursuading people. And some with special abilities like Mr. K, and certainly not myself. There’s a segment of America’s population who constantly hear how stupid and backward they are. Whether it be from late night talk shows, news channels or the condescending body language they receive from upwardly mobile educated types. They know it. Are perpetually aware of it. And they resent it! Has some of their borish, inconsiderate and overly aggressive behavior in some pockets of their culture warranted scorn? Sure it has! Yet, the greatest mistake a candidate can make is believing they are virtually superior in every aspect of life over some voters. Now, that’s not to overlook the sobering reality that there is a general standard of intelligence (I.Q.) which profoundly dictates a person’s standard of living. And how successful they are concerning things like mastering interpersonal dynamics and monetary earning capabilities. Yet, the greatest mistake you can make is out of conceit.
I’ve got news for you! If you run for office believing such a construct you not only set yourself up for resentment and lost votes, but also potential humiliation in key moments. I can tell numerous accounts of when I was going through my day thinking how I resented so and so group of people. How I thought they were beneath me in some way based off of society’s idea of conventional intelligence. Then that very day receiving help in some small way with a matter I could not alleviate on my own; by an individual from said group! In his book, Superbia: The Perils Of Pride. The Power of Humility Steven Willing, MD analyzes how pride opens us up for humiliation in the least. While crushing our credibility in the most. Candidate, consider the matter now before it’s too late. It was this type of sentiment which road Donald Trump all the way to the White House in 2016. Make sure your bent toward populism is sincere! Because those ‘no count’ voters out there want you to know, they know as much as you do…………..It’s just a different kind of knowing!
