Because of the systematic and coercive untruthfulness of our society, incompetence is more common than it used to be. It has also changed its form.
About 40 years ago, incompetence was mostly psychopathic - and therefore a matter of individuals. The incompetence of psychopathic individuals was short termist and selfish, they used their jobs to get money, steal, coerce sex, torment people or get whatever they wanted. In general incompetent psychopaths were impulsive, chaotic and tried to do as little as possible. In order to achieve and maintain this they would lie, cheat, threaten, punch, weep, beg... do whatever worked or seemed likely to achieve their goals.
There are still plenty of psychopaths around - and in high places; but modern incompetence is overwhelmingly systematic; hard-wired into the organisation by the infiltration of Leftist ideals - from mission statements, down through aims and objectives, to rules and regulations and the interpretation of laws.
The typical modern organisation demand obedience rather than effectiveness at the purported organisational function. This especially in the linked-bureaucracy - the public sector, major private corporations, NGOs, education, health care etc... all the most powerful and influential organisations.
Thus the typical modern incompetent is a mediocre middle manager: obedient, conscientious, methodical, eager... They are incompetent partly because they could not do better, and partly because incompetence is deeply so assimilated to the (politicised) organisational ethos, that it has become invisible.
The typical obedient, clueless incompetent is that-way in some respects because they don't know any better - nor do they care enough to find out what is better; but even if they did happen to know better, they would be too docile and timid for this to make any difference.
Another important difference is that whereas old-style psychopathic incompetence makes us angry and motivated to do something about it - so there is a negative-feedback-loop that tends to keep it in check... in contrast, the mainstream modern incompetence of over-promoted passive mediocrity fills us with a paralysing pity for its sad little personnel; and these bureaucratic drones are so ubiquitous, and so multi-layered, that the usual evoked-response is resignation and despair.
And so it persists, and expands, and will eventually kill us all...
You have captured the essence of it perfectly. It creeps in to every institution imaginable. It makes studying a waste of time for those who are truly smart. It destroys lives of those who need a friend but can only find temporary comrades. It dominates the imaginations of gullible youth who are taught to trust their programmed desires and not their ability to think.
ReplyDelete@MM64 - Indeed, and yet cricising them personally seems like shooting fish in a barrel.
ReplyDeleteBeing attacked by them - while dangerous due to their sheer numbers and solidarity - was like being savaged by a flock of edentulous lambs...