The seven deadly sins, proclaimed, by the ancient Christian moralists are, Pride, Anger, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony and Sloth. With appropriate respect for ancient scholarship, it appears to us that the classical listing is incomplete, in that it omits the insidious, ultimate vice, Incompetence.
It has always been our position, from an empirically, existential point of view, that the most ultimately, dangerous and reprehensible evil or depravity, is incompetence. We have read, and are fully cognizant, that the above recounted, classic (“Seven Deadly Sins”) categories of misbehavior, were specified, not merely for their inarguable, intrinsic evil, but additionally, for their potential to lead the perpetrator to further sin or acts of evil; however, such implicit intention, respectfully, is not apparent to our own empirical experience, nor consequently, relevant to our present assessment.
This writing, certainly, would not foolishly presume, to establish some sort of (populist) competitive, ranking of the various categories of depravity; but, rather, to underline the unknown and insidious nature and consequently, the profound danger, of (unrevealed) incompetence. Members of society can prudently and wisely, avoid dealing with individuals known, by personal, or reliably reported, experience, to be immoral, yet may, innocently and unknowingly, place themselves in profound jeopardy, by guile and by misplaced trust, in an individual, afflicted with the sin of incompetence.
There is ever present, a natural inclination to rely on, or invest trust in, people who may, either for acceptable purposes, or the opposite, favorably impress the individual, by virtue of their natural or practiced manner. The stereotypically desirable characteristics, such as, attractive appearance, pleasant voice, and ostensible confidence, may be, either, genuine or misleading. A combination of these elements, with false professions of solicitude, knowledgeable experience and singular capability, can lead a party, to the selection of such person for friendship, business matters, or worse, for legal or surgical services. In such instances, a negative outcome, too often, a tragic one, is predictable. Incompetence. cloaked in the false and misleading costume of solicitous capability, is evilly predatory and, we hold, constitutes the most reprehensible of sins.
The mortal sin of ignorant incompetence, is further, significantly, exacerbated, when it is in lethal combination with the neurosis of egotism. The wrongdoer is entirely incapable of remorse, regarding the outcome of his malpractice, which would entail a negative view of himself, at odds with his neurotic, grandiose self -perception. Accordingly, he is highly unlikely, in the future, to improve on his skills, and becomes a serial transgressor.
Who better is there, unfortunately, to irrefutably demonstrate our point of view, than our Nation’s serial- transgressor, President, Donald J. Trump. After a demagogic blitzkrieg, of snake-oil, pie-in-the-sky, misleading assertions, targeted to the flat-earth, education -challenged, reductionist portion of the population, together with substantial financial support from a number of sociopathic, industrialists, who value profits above regulatory protections of human life and health, plus the arcane and atavistic rules of the Electoral College, he was, unexpectedly, handed the controls, of the Ship of State.
This former glitzy, television host of a third-rate, trite, television game, show and proven, life-long real estate gonif, wasted no time in proving his predicted, unsuitability for the position, from the first day, by, like a high school, teenager, picking up the phone, in the Oval Office, and impulsively, dialing up several foreign heads of State. Such shockingly, unsophisticated action, was undertaken by him, despite his ignorance of its perceived significance, his lack of knowledge of official protocol and diplomatic procedure, existing treaties and understandings, between nations; despite his total ignorance of history, past, and current, his complete ignorance of international trade relations, the stock market, finance and the diverse multitude of interests, vital to the Nation. That was only the overture to of his, “bull in the china shop” behavior; he, thereafter, proceeded to carry the “china shop” with him to every foreign country, making friends with our historically dangerous enemies, and enemies of our historic friends and allies. Our country, for generations, the undisputed and respected leader of the international world, under his leadership, has declined to a position of universal embarrassment.
His domestic record has been incomprehensible, lacking any policy, and has demonstrated a caravan of so many illogical and irrational acts, as can rival a “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.” His family has morphed the White House into an emporium or shopping center, for their burgeoning, retail businesses. Trump, himself, has illegally profited from his position as President, in his hotel, restaurant and golf spa businesses. He has by statements and inaction, encouraged White Supremacism, personally engaged in racial and gender bigotry, demeaned, and actually burlesqued the disabled on mass audience television, undermined all scientific reports of climate change and efforts at its amelioration, disparaged scientific research and the liberal arts, ignored meteorological tragedies, such as occurred to Puerto Rico, and several continental States, attacked the Nation’s, legitimate free press and American media, as perpetrators of “false news” viz., accurate reports of his miscreant and ignorant behavior; while, himself, engaging in daily, serial mendacity and an incalculable number of other acts of diagnosable neurotic, attribution, simultaneously, publically praising himself, profusely, in the most superlative terms. His extreme incompetence in the wake of the recent worldwide and domestic epidemic of COVIN-19, deserves separate mention, in the following paragraph. If nothing else, such demonstrated, incompetent ignorance, alone would prove our point, that incompetence, especially, when exacerbated by a neurotic ego, is the, inarguable, paramount sin of all sins.
We have singled out Trump’s, currently revealed, total incompetence in the face of the current pandemic of COVID-19, to further emphasize the publically demonstrated, extent of danger, inherent in the sin of incompetence. There is, doubtless, a veritable tsunami, of reported and unreported instances of grievous injury, resulting from surgical, medical and legal, instances of gross incompetence; but Trump’s, egoistic ignorance, in the face of this disease outbreak (in addition to further revelations concerning, Donald J. Trump), is relevant and especially supportive of our selection of incompetence, as the most grievous depravity and greatest sin.
To declare that President Trump, erred because he early on, failed to recognize the dangerous virus, exacting suffering and a horrendous number of deaths, in China, and then Italy, would be a gross understatement. We are told that, under the (contrastingly competent and responsible) Obama Administration, specialized agencies and other assets, were put in place to act as World-wide monitors of any precipitant pandemic, such as SARS, and the others). These responsible, forward looking programs, were summarily eliminated, as part of Trump’s uninformed, cost savings measures (which included very many, unrelated but vital entities).
When it , undeniably, evident that the lethl virus had attacked the United States, Trump publically played it down, as, “just another flu,” and, most remarkably, as a “Democratic Party hoax”. His shameful message was that it is of little importance. This public attitude was in exacerbation of our Nation’s unpreparedness for the viral holocaust that followed; too little research, far too little vital supplies, including surgical masks, breathing ventilators, and sadly, late warnings to the public. The American public is presently in lockdown and quarantine. We were greatly angered, yesterday, when the orange incompetent stated that wearing masks is only voluntary, and that “he” will not be wearing one. This irresponsible recommendation was hardly, a responsible, leader’s guiding hand.
The Nation, at present, is in virtual lockdown, most citizens uncomfortably, enduring a prescribed quarantine, all in tribute to Presidential ignorance and incompetency. Today, we were shockingly informed that there are 337,991, confirmed National cases and approximately 10,000 deaths, and that the numbers are, frighteningly increasing; a bright tribute to (Trump’s) incompetency. It is our feeling that our President has committed, yet another felony, to add to his copious list: Negligent Homicide.
Perhaps some scholar will add our recommended, eighth, to the classic seven deadly sins.
-p.
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