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Politics : The Trump Presidency
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To: Lane3 who wrote (285141)5/6/2024 2:42:51 PM
From: combjelly  Read Replies (1) of 358759
 
There is perhaps some conceptual overlap between stupid and thrall given that it would seem that one might have to be stupid to fall captive to nonsense. Could be an emotional override of the brain so powerful as to short the brain out when one is not otherwise stupid.

Possibly. I have alexithymia and I just can't understand why normals let their emotions over-ride their reason. Which is also a factor in mob behavior. Incomprehensible. But that is just me.

When someone argues with a seemingly straight face that, for example, Biden couldn't have gotten more votes because he hung out in his Delaware basement while Trump was out there, he is either making it up or there is "something wrong with" that person. Rather than a broader "something," I have narrowly framed that as a specific thrall. But I couldn't put up much of an argument against just plain nuts.

This is what we are seeing. It isn't that I have never been enthralled by an idea or concept. For example, in the 1970s I as enamoured with the ancient astronauts promoted by Eric von Daniken. Bought his books. Now in those bygone days it was hard to actually check his claims. But in one book, he made a claim that I could easily check. He claimed that when you divided the area of the base of the Great Pyramid by its height, you get pi out to several decimal places. Spoiler: it isn't even close. So my thrallness collapsed immediately. I didn't go through a series of trying to explain it away, like the encyclopedias are all in a plot to discredit von Daniken. That would be nuts and never occurred to me. In my defense I was about 13 when I read Chariots of the Gods. And about 18 when I realized the truth. It was embarrassing.
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