Dunning-Kruger kookery and more — #NebDems News

Watching the White House “response” this week to the coronavirus pandemic unravel (assuming it was ever “raveled”), we were reminded of the Dunning-Kruger effect — which describes a psychological phenomenon in which stupid people do not know that they are in fact stupid.

In many areas of life, incompetent people do not recognize  —  scratch that, cannot recognize  —  just how incompetent they are, a phenomenon that has come to be known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. Logic itself almost demands this lack of self-insight: For poor performers to recognize their ineptitude would require them to possess the very expertise they lack. To know how skilled or unskilled you are at using the rules of grammar, for instance, you must have a good working knowledge of those rules, an impossibility among the incompetent. Poor performers  —  and we are all poor performers at some things  —  fail to see the flaws in their thinking or the answers they lack. What’s curious is that, in many cases, incompetence does not leave people disoriented, perplexed, or cautious. Instead, the incompetent are often blessed with an inappropriate confidence, buoyed by something that feels to them like knowledge

This has not been lost on Salon’s Chauncey Devega:

The Dunning-Kruger effect manifests in the form of the drunk at the bar who weighs in on every conversation with unwanted advice, the online troll who monopolizes comment sections, or the person who reads one book (or perhaps the introduction) and then acts like an authority on the subject.
 
Visionary science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov signaled to the Dunning-Kruger effect with his famous observation in 1980: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
Donald Trump is the Dunning-Kruger president of the United States.

Help us all.

Just 214 days until the November election.


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The Nebraska Democratic Party is focused on making sure our elections are accessible and that the public is safe during the pandemic. We are shifting the majority of our resources to assist candidates to campaign in a new virtual world and to assist voters to Vote By Mail.

Click here to sign up to make calls and send texts for candidates.

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The NDP has called on Secretary of State Bob Evnen and Governor Pete Ricketts to consider moving entirely to Vote-by-Mail ballots for the May 12 Primary Election in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

They recently said that Nebraska will have in-person voting on May 12, but that ALL Nebraska counties will be sending Vote-by-Mail applications to all voters.

The NDP is circulating a petition to demand that Nebraska go to an all Vote-by-Mail Primary Election for the safety of all.

The NDP has launched an online portal for Nebraskans to request that a Vote-By-Mail application be sent to them.

Simply fill out this form.

Simplemente llene la forma.


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Due to the coronavirus, the NDP’s March SCC Meeting was held online and on the phone. We will have more information in the coming week on edits to the County and State Conventions. Those events will be held on the phone only. Dates, process and the rules around those meetings will be sent soon. You can stay updated on this information on our website. 

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There are more than 550 Democrats running for office in Nebraska for the May 12 Primary!

See the list here.

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We have an update for NDP Block Captains for contacting voters now that door-knocking is out.

You can read it here.

TONS of great information.

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For candidates, the NDP has compiled a guide for Campaigning During Coronavirus, which you can read here.

Thank you to our friends at The Management Institute, Tuesday Company, M&R Lab, Power Labs, Progressphiles listserv, epolitics.com, ASDC, DNC, Missouri Democratic Party and other Democratic state parties and committees for providing some of the content that we repurposed for this guide.

In light of the coronavirus epidemic and the Nebraska Democratic Party’s recommendations to cancel in-person gatherings, postpone all in-person campaigning, and adopt remote/virtual environments, we want to provide our candidates, local Democratic parties and allied activist organizations with recommendations on how to continue campaigning and staying in touch with supporters during the coronavirus.

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We leave you this week with a rendering by Bill Bramhall, which needs no explanation.

–By Kevin O’Hanlon/NDP Communications Director

NOTE: If you’d like to receive #NebDems News via email, just let us know by sending a note to: info@nebraskademocrats.org

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IMPORTANT DATES

NOTE: All of the NDP’s in-person events have been postponed until further notice. Check our Facebook page and website for updates. If you had planned to attend any non-NDP events, we urge you to check with the organizers on the status.

April 4: Big Blue Phone Bank LD39 with Allison Heimes

April 5: Big Blue Phone Bank LD31 with Tim Royers

April 6: Vote By Mail Ballots start to get sent to voters

April 13: First Day to vote early, in-person, at your county election office

April 24: Last Day to mail in your voter registration application, it must be postmarked by this date

April 27: Last day to register to vote online

April 27: Last day to register to vote in-person at your DMV office

May 1: (by 6 p.m): Last day to register to vote in-person at your county election office

May 1: Deadline for Vote By Mail Applications to be received by your county election office

May 11: Last Day to vote early, in-person, at your county election office

May 12: Primary Election

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