I never understood the word ‘arrogance’ until now. At first I thought it was a kind of egotism, but now realize is really an extreme kind of stupidity. How could people seriously contemplate thumbing their noses at reality without reckoning the consequences?

Arrogant people aren’t really the Doctor Faustuses whose vaulting knowledge has made them “challenge God”. Rather they are something far more pathetic, the high class equivalent of fools who say, “here, hold my beer”. The shocking thing — to me at least — was to discover that behind the grand titles and despite the gorgeous trappings, what little men so many “leaders” are. And I say this not in denigration, but simply as what appears to be a fact.

When a system has a large design margin the feedback loop between policy action and consequence is often disabled or suppressed. In such a system clowns can get promoted to the top simply because they have nice haircuts. In such a system, ideologies can become fads simply because they are promoted by good publicists. Morons are raised to the top and agendas which are little more than lunacies take universal, unthinking hold.

Now after 20 years of this perverse HR policy, perhaps things have reached the point where top is literally stuffed with idiots; that there are now more capable men in a Mangyan tribal council than there is in a place like EU. Literally. That there is more common sense in a given infantry platoon in Afghanistan than in the higher reaches of the Beltway.

But they don’t realize it. They think they are master of all they survey. It is this self-loving stupidity that constitutes arrogance. Napoleon wasn’t arrogant. He had talent. But these guys …

The thing is that they believe their press. They are truly convinced the world can’t live without them. In fact, the world would benefit greatly from their retirement. But what is truly frightening is the knowledge that reality will square the account, even if our genius cultural leaders don’t think it will. Payback is inevitable and the check is in the mail. God help us when it gets delivered. Gaia won’t.

You cannot pursue a policy of folly indefinitely and expect to escape unscathed.