I already heard a similar idea, expressed like: “To claim this, you must be either extremely stupid or extremely dishonest. And I believe you are a smart person.”
But although the separation seems nice in paper, I wonder how it works in real life.
On one hand, I can imagine the prototypes of (1) an intelligent manipulative cult leader, and (2) a naive brainwashed follower; which would represent intelligent dishonesty and stupid honesty respectively.
On the other hand, dishonest people sometimes “get high on their own supply” because it is difficult to keep two separate models of the world (the true one, and the official one) without mixing them up somewhat, and because by spreading false ideas you create an environment full of false ideas, which makes some social pressure on you in return. I think I read about some cult leaders who started as cynical manipulators and later started reverse-doubting themselves: “What if I accidentally stumbled upon the Truth or got a message from God, and the things I believed I was making up when preaching to my followers were actually the real thing?” Similarly, a dishonest politically active person will find themselves in a bubble they helped to create, and then their inputs are filtered by the bubble. -- And stupid people can get defensive when called out on their stupid ideas, which can easily lead to dishonesty. (My idea is stupid, but I believe it sincerely. You show me a counter-example. Now I get defensive and start lying just to have a counter-argument.)
I already heard a similar idea, expressed like: “To claim this, you must be either extremely stupid or extremely dishonest. And I believe you are a smart person.”
But although the separation seems nice in paper, I wonder how it works in real life.
On one hand, I can imagine the prototypes of (1) an intelligent manipulative cult leader, and (2) a naive brainwashed follower; which would represent intelligent dishonesty and stupid honesty respectively.
On the other hand, dishonest people sometimes “get high on their own supply” because it is difficult to keep two separate models of the world (the true one, and the official one) without mixing them up somewhat, and because by spreading false ideas you create an environment full of false ideas, which makes some social pressure on you in return. I think I read about some cult leaders who started as cynical manipulators and later started reverse-doubting themselves: “What if I accidentally stumbled upon the Truth or got a message from God, and the things I believed I was making up when preaching to my followers were actually the real thing?” Similarly, a dishonest politically active person will find themselves in a bubble they helped to create, and then their inputs are filtered by the bubble. -- And stupid people can get defensive when called out on their stupid ideas, which can easily lead to dishonesty. (My idea is stupid, but I believe it sincerely. You show me a counter-example. Now I get defensive and start lying just to have a counter-argument.)