#lang pollen

◊; This file copyright 2011 by Joel Dueck. All Rights Reserved.

◊(define-meta series "words-from-strangers")
◊(define-meta published "2011-03-25")

◊blockquote{“◊caps{James I was} always boasting of his skill in what he called kingcraft; and
yet it is hardly possible even to imagine a course more directly opposed to all the rules of
kingcraft than that which he followed…he enraged and alarmed his Parliament by constantly telling
them that they held their privileges merely during his pleasure, and that they had no more business
to inquire what he might lawfully do than what the Deity might lawfully do…his cowardice, his
childishness, his pedantry, his ungainly person and manners, his provincial accent, made him an act
of derision…On the day of the accession of James the First our country descended from the rank she
had hitherto held, and began to be regarded as a power hardly of the second order.”}

◊attrib{Thomas Macaulay, ◊i{History of England}.}

◊note[#:date "2019-04-10"]{I had originally transcribed this quote alongside a link to ◊link[1]{a
New York Times piece} about the Dunning-Kruger effect:

◊blockquote{‘Dunning and Kruger argued in their paper, “When people are incompetent in the
strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do
they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of
the ability to realize it. Instead, like Mr. Wheeler, they are left with the erroneous impression
they are doing just fine.”

‘It became known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect — our incompetence masks our ability to recognize our
incompetence.‘}

James I and others like him must represet some special subset of Dunning-Kruger, when the afflicted
person is also so insulated by their class and power that they can never actually suffer the effects
of their incompetence.}

◊url[1]{https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-anosognosics-dilemma-1/}

