“I thought I'd share this Boris Johnson story with you”

Post by seanmcdirmid » Wed, Jun 26, 2019, 5:14 AM UTC

895-grbtio wrote: post #46

Bakary wrote: post #37

This calls to mind the idea that our world is uniquely suited to psychopaths (or whatever the current DSM-V term is). Cities are too large for people to be held accountable as a villager would. There is too much information for scandals to have consequences. The thirst for confidence and charm is so intense that charisma or presence is by far the most useful quality a person can have. Modern life is filled with so mu…

Don't believe the hype. Lack of empathy is a huge handicap in life. People who are unable to imagine things from the perspective of others are often unable to correctly interpret or anticipate others' actions and responses. Managers with low EQ tend to not go very far.

Post by seanmcdirmid » Wed, Jun 26, 2019, 5:15 AM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #51

895-grbtio wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't believe the hype. Lack of empathy is a huge handicap in life. People who are unable to imagine things from the perspective of others are often unable to correctly interpret or anticipate others' actions and responses. Managers with low EQ tend to not go very far.

Empathy is good because you understand people. Psychopaths may have empathy which often makes them good manipulators but they lack sympathy so they don’t feel with others. That’s my understanding.

Post by arittr » Wed, Jun 26, 2019, 5:17 AM UTC

Post by bryanrasmussen » Wed, Jun 26, 2019, 5:22 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #32

asabjorn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This does seem like a contradiction of rules.

There's no rule against politics on HN as such (and never has been: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014869 ). The rule is against garden-variety politics—the kind with no intellectually interesting aspect: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . Many good HN submissions have some political overlap. That's inevitable and fine as long as people don't use the site for political battle, which takes disc…

Post by monodeldiablo » Wed, Jun 26, 2019, 5:37 AM UTC

smsm42 wrote: post #47

sonnyblarney wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point of the story was not that he was a 'good speaker' but rather, his foolhardiness is a populist act. Which implies that his kind of bumbling attitude in popular politics might very well be calculated, i.e. he's not a fool, he's brilliant. I'll buy that he's borderline genius with the populist bits, but I also believe basically everyone in international politics who say he's a clown, totally unprepared…

Not being British I don't really have a skin in the game, but thinking about how well things have been going lately over there with the "serious" people, I wonder maybe it's time to question the value of their seriousness. If you're very serious total failure, then the seriousness helps no one.