Nairobi Natural

What’s Worse than Weaponized Incompetence ?

The viral discussion on weaponized incompetence illuminates the inconsistencies between capability and execution. America’s greatest social experiment, TikTok, houses these theories on why simple activities like washing the dishes or folding the bed’s fitted sheet are not done well by individuals who simply do not want to. While most examples are of men who weaponize their incompetence in an effort to abstain from stereotypically “feminine” household duties, I would like to turn our attention to another elite player in this game, politicians. Political leaders on all levels historically embody weaponized incompetence in a nefarious manner. Today, we Strategic Cognitive Dissonance as an intentional will to misunderstand a tangible connection, involvement or implication between two entities while promoting a presence of inculpability. As a nation, we have watched officials of congress publicly belittle Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson, based on assumptions of race and gender rather than engage with her prodigious professional qualifications. A congressional culture rooted in strategic cognitive dissonance breeds this behavior on both a small and a large scale.