A growing body of research confirms that incompetence robs people of the ability to recognize their own stupidity. In other words: dumb people are too dumb to realize it.

The Dunning–Kruger effect originates from a cognitive bias study conducted at Cornell University in which incompetent individuals were shown to suffer from the illusion of superiority, mistakenly rating their abilities much higher than other people. This bias is attributed to the inability of the unskilled to recognize their own ineptitude. 

The study demonstrated that humans find it intrinsically difficult to get a sense of what they don’t know. Whether an individual lacks competence in critical thinking, emotional intelligence, or a sense of humor – these narcissists rate their own skills in those areas as being above average. Usually WAY above average.

Because of course they’re better than everyone else. And smarter!

They have all the (simple) answers for everything. Simple answers for simple people. The problem is particularly acute among Trump and his supporters.

The language of incompetence:

President Donald Trump said it was unlikely the staff cuts to the National Weather Service will be reversed, even in the wake of the recent Texas floods. “I would think not,” the president said on Sunday about a possible reversal. “This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it. Nobody saw it. Very talented people are there; they didn’t see it.”

The president told reporters: “That water situation, that all is, and that was really the Biden setup. But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it, either. I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe.”

No one bats a fucking eye.