‘Profiles in Ignorance’: a humorous look at past presidents
This year we have been inundated with constant 鈥渂reaking news鈥� regarding many of the candidates who are currently running for office. Regardless of your political bent, some of the quotes, disclosures, and October surprises are so disconcerting, and simple-minded, they often seem unbelievable.
Because of the continuing devolution of standards for our political candidates, one of America鈥檚 most famous satirists, Andy Borowitz, has written a book regarding the obvious ignorance of several of our most prominent politicians since 1776. According to best-selling author Susan Orlean, 鈥淏orowitz masterfully throws light (and shade) on the confederacy of dunces who have fumbled their way into power.鈥�
He is described as a brilliant comedian and best-selling author, a satirist, and the first ever National Press Club award winner for humor. His new book is titled, 鈥淧rofiles in Ignorance, How America鈥檚 Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber.鈥�
He opens with this quote from Harry Truman: 鈥淏eing dumb鈥檚 about the worst thing there is when it comes to holding office.鈥� That quote was quickly followed in the book by a quote from the 45th president who said, 鈥渢he worst thing that a man can do is go bald.鈥�
In his introduction, Borowitz says that people often refer to our nation as 鈥淭he American Experiment,鈥� and his concern is that we鈥檙e all lab rats in a country that is currently deciding, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the most ignorant person the United States is willing to elect?鈥� He elaborates on the fact that 鈥淕one are the days when leaders had to hide how much they didn鈥檛 know. Now cluelessness is an electoral asset and smart politicians must play dumb, or risk voters鈥� wrath.鈥�
This ignorance issue is not about education, it鈥檚 all about personal, intellectual curiosity. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Harry Truman were just a few of our former presidents who were not formally educated. They were, however, incredibly curious, and they worked diligently to inform themselves about issues and problems and learned how to solve them. Borowitz described FDR as having been a C student who never had classes on how to end a depression or a world war, but he studied and he learned what he needed to know to move our country forward.
The author describes the 鈥淭hree Stages of Ignorance鈥� that have evolved over the past 50 years: 鈥淩idicule, Acceptance, and finally Celebration. In fact, when one candidate misspelled potato, he was mocked and ridiculed. Then came the acceptance stage where another candidate was welcomed as an 鈥渁uthentic down-to-earth person,鈥� with whom we would like to sit down and have a beer. Now we are in the celebration stage where 鈥渋gnorance has become preferable to knowledge, where the clueless are preferred over experts, and a candidate can win in Congress regardless of their lack of knowledge or understanding of government, world affairs, or the economy.
Consequently, we see example after example of Ivy League-trained scholars working diligently every day to try to appear dumb. This is not just a Republican issue focusing on the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Bobert. Plenty of Democrats have fallen into this category as well. Remember Marion Barry and Rod Blagojevich? They have not, however, served as the president of the United States, and his book is aimed primarily at former presidents.
The good news is that we only need to hold out for a few hundred more years before the pendulum swings back to finally get people who are smarter than us back in control. Not unlike the author, I can鈥檛 imagine anyone wanting to be president. He encourages us to take an objective look at the chaos created by each of these inept presidents where, hopefully, you will see clearly a difference in the cost of life and treasure to our democracy.
You can be the judge, but while you鈥檙e judging, you also should find yourself alternately laughing and crying uncontrollably. When will we ever learn?
Nick Jacobs of Windber is a health-care consultant and author of two books.