He heard the news. He leapt up from his seat in the theatre. He clasped hands with a couple of colleagues on the way up the aisle, then Spike Lee galloped up the stairs to the stage and leapt into Samuel L. Jackson’s arms. In so many ways it was classic Lee, being entirely off the wall. In other ways – since he’d never won an Oscar before – it was unique. Then, he pulled notes from his jacket pocket and read his list of thank-yous. And since it was such an extraordinary night for black artists, Lee took the opportunity to make a political point.
“Before the world tonight, I give praise to our ancestors who built this country,” he said. “If we all connect with our ancestors, we will have love, wisdom, and regain our humanity. It will be a powerful moment.”
In case you missed it – on that host-less Academy Awards Night show – Spike Lee, the controversial movie creator, who’d received four previous nominations for an Oscar before Sunday night, finally won Best Adapted Screenplay for his feature film “BlacKkKlansman.”
But then later Sunday night, we heard from the White House. President Donald Trump, tweeted: “Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes … when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (criminal justice reform, lowest unemployment numbers in history, tax cuts) than any other Pres!”
Now, I don’t intend to quibble with the president’s misrepresentation of the facts. My concern is something more sinister and pathological. Has it ever occurred that Donald Trump, who regularly criticises others for their lack of competency and smarts, may be dangerous because he cannot recognize his own incompetency and lack of intelligence? In other words, the man is so convinced of his brilliance, that he cannot recognize the likelihood that his personality, tastes, attitudes, perceptions and decision-making are just the opposite of brilliant. They are hopelessly unintelligent and he cannot see it.
Have you ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect? It’s an actual scientific study – conducted in 1999 by psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger – about people in society who rate themselves as high-performers because they are too ignorant to know otherwise. I’m not making this up. The two scientists tested students in the areas of grammar, logic and humour. The results showed that those who scored the lowest vastly overestimated their scores. Their study extrapolated the information to determine that those who are completely incompetent, know it, while those with a minimum level of competence vastly exaggerate their abilities. Or, if you prefer a Shakespearean interpretation: “The fool doth think he is wise, the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” (As You Like It).
I think Dunning-Kruger holds true for much more than presidents or movie stars. Have you ever considered the idiocy of some commercials on radio or TV, or more importantly, have you questioned advertisers’ competency? Case in point: There’s a TV ad on the air these days; in it we see a group of novice insurance brokers learning their trade. We’re told they’re being taught how to be empathetic, how to care. The scene switches outdoors where a car is dropped from some height, shattering into a thousand pieces on the cement. The instructor turns to the student broker.
“How does that make you feel?” asks the trainer.
“Very sad,” says the student.
“That’s your first lesson in feeling empathy,” the trainer says proudly.
I fully believe that the people who created this advertisement believe that we the unwashed public will look at this ad, be stunned by its audacity to destroy a car, and then be convinced that they, the insurance company sponsoring the ad, have greater empathy for us, than any other insurer. Nope! This is Dunning-Kruger at is worst. This is an insurance company that has overestimated its understanding of the customer’s mental capacity. They’re ignorant and think they’re brilliant.
Another example? How about the guy who thinks he’s the funniest person on earth? You know he isn’t, but he can’t believe that he isn’t. Of course, there’s the 1995 example of the guy who robbed two banks in broad daylight without a mask or disguise, and then smiled into the surveillance cameras. But I come back to filmmaker Spike Lee and President Trump’s calling him incompetent for not rehearsing his “racist” speech.
“My grandmother, who lived to be 100 years young,” Lee said, “saved 50 years of Social Security cheques, and put her first grandchild, me, through college.”
While higher education is not the only yardstick by which to judge a person’s intelligence, I note that Donald Trump, while he enrolled at the Wharton School of Business “as evidence of intellectual superiority” actually dropped out of the MBA program, while Spike Lee finished his undergrad ta Morehouse College and then went on to New York University Grad Film school.
Who’s calling who ignorant?
