Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/17/cnn-graphic-shows-trump-woeful.html
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What is this wingnut thing where people argue from authority by virtue of relation to authority? “My dad is a professor of music.” “My uncle is a nuclear scientist.” “My cousin is a doctor.” Is it because they believe that family relations actually confer the kind of authority they are seeking? They disparage actual education but somehow being related to someone with credentials shows expertise?
The graphic didn’t list the accomplishments of Redfield’s familial relations, but I imagine there are some.
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Only one medical qualification?
What about all that VD he heroically avoided? It was literally his Vietnam…
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“My father’s an OB/GYN, so of course I know what the hell I’m doing.”
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Irony?
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That was Rand Paul’s qualification for the senate!
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I’m not sure if the same applies to the downmarket wingnuts; but the high budget ones, both in terms of nepotism and in terms of arrogant embrace of the idea that they deserve their various privileges, seem to be straight back in the mindset of hereditary feudalism; so believing that competence, as well as divine right, flows through their veins isn’t too out of character.
Some of these spats actually look a lot like the skirmishes between feudal sorts defending their customary prerogatives and the new class of commoner professionals; except that last time they were moving in the right direction.
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No, I think the irony is that these same wingnuts who argue from authority via a relative will also brag about Donald being “an outsider” who knows nothing of how Washington works, so therefore he’s the perfect guy to run things.
If only there were a graphic to show the stupidity of this idea . . . oh wait, here we go. . .
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It’s not that competence is inherited. It’s that competence is irrelevant. It can be bought as needed (and rarely is.) Witness the Spanish Hapsburgs: in the end the dynasty had decayed so much that it was not only incapable of producing remotely competent rulers but that they couldn’t even do the only thing that was essentially their own: reproduction.
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This sort of thing, along with calling a lie a lie, is at least four years too late.
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Since when has Trump’s complete lack of meaningful qualifications in ANY subject stopped him from shouting his mouth off? The man is a menace to all humanity. He knows absolutely nothing about anything and if he had a brain, he would be even more dangerous than his current behaviour exhibits. He needs to go before he starts WW3.
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I’m all for pointing out that trump is a willfully ignorant fool, but lets not make Redfield out to be the good guy. His whole career is incompetence and stoogery. The whole reason that Bush and trump both picked him is that he’s a yes man that will say what they want to hear and won’t interrupt with too many inconvenient truths
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Just because Trump is a dimwitted twit, doesn’t mean his opinions are any less valid than someone with years of experience and world class knowledge on the subject. This is just an Appeal to Authority fallacy. We have to believe him because…uhhhh…Trump’s an authority figure…or something like that.
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Does his opposition here make him more or less credible though?
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The only burn that would have been better:
“Played a doctor on TV.”
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That Redfield in some small way publically contradicted the president despite being chosen for not doing so adds evidence that he is right here. It is a tricky thing, though. When he is put up as the authority for this, and then turns around and says some ideological nonsense tomorrow they’ve added to the people who will believe him. If instead they consult one of the thousands with a stronger record than Redfield, you can make the same point about trump being ignorant without the side-effects
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would “is a shithead” count as a medical credential?
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