I often wondered if Leftism had a syndrome or something, so I looked it up. Leftism is defined in part by the Dunning-Kruger effect.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is the scientific term for “clueless people who think they’re experts.” It’s the reason your uncle at Thanksgiving rants about geopolitics despite never having left his hometown, or why that guy on Twitter with 12 followers declares himself a “thought leader.”
As Charles Darwin (who definitely didn’t suffer from this) once wrote:
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.”
In other words: The less someone knows about a subject, the more certain they are about the subject.
How It Works (Or, More Accurately, How It Fails)
Psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger proved something obvious but depressing: The worst performers are the least capable of recognizing their own incompetence. That’s why they consistently view themselves as better, more capable, and more knowledgeable than others.
In their studies, they found:
- People scoring in the bottom 12% on tests believed they were in the top 62%.
- Those who couldn’t tell a good joke rated themselves as comedy experts.
- Students who failed exams demanded higher grades, convinced they’d aced it.
Dunning summed it up perfectly:
“The incompetent are often blessed with an inappropriate confidence, buoyed by something that feels to them like knowledge.”
(Source: Pacific Standard – “We Are All Confident Idiots”)
In one study, approximately 90% of respondents claimed they had at least some knowledge of the made-up terms. Further, consistent with other findings related to the Dunning-Kruger effect, the more familiar participants claimed that they were with a topic, the more likely they were also to claim they were familiar with the meaningless terms. What’s more stupid than not admitting you don’t know something.
Real-Life Examples (A.K.A. “Why the Internet Is a Dumpster Fire”)
- The COVID “Experts” Who Got Everything Wrong
- “Two weeks to flatten the curve!” → “Just get vaccinated and you won’t get COVID!” → “Okay, maybe you’ll get it, but it won’t be bad!” → “Okay, you might die, but trust us!”
- The same people who screamed “follow the science!” ignored actual science when it didn’t fit the narrative.
- Bonus: The ones who still pretend lockdowns, mask, and vaccinations worked.
- The “Economists” Who Think Money Grows on Trees
- “Inflation isn’t real. Ok, it’s real, but transient. Ok, it’s here to stay so just suck it up!”
- “Tax the rich and everything will be free!” → “Why are businesses leaving the country?”
- Bonus: Tariffs don’t work for the United States and only for other countries.
- The Foreign Policy “Geniuses” Who Keep Starting Disasters
- “We must defend democracy in Ukraine!” (while ignoring the corruption and canceled elections)
- “Pete Hegseth should quit, but the Defense Secretary who botched Afghanistan overnight and went AWOL was a genuis!”
- Bonus: The same people who thought the Iraq War was a good idea.
- The Media “Fact-Checkers” Who Can’t Fact-Check
- “Hunter Biden’s laptop is Russian disinformation!” → “Oops, it was real all along.”
- “Masks don’t work!” → “Masks work!” → “Masks don’t work again!”
- Bonus: The ones who still call The New York Post “fake news” while peddling their own lies.
Why This Happens (And Why It’s So Dangerous)
Dunning and Kruger called it the “dual burden”. The concept is simple: (1) You’re bad at something, and (2) you’re so bad, you can’t even tell you’re bad.
This is why:
Bad drivers think they’re great, and terrible bosses think they’re inspiring. Sadly, politicians who’ve never run a business think they can “fix” the economy. And the worst part? The more wrong they are, the harder they double down. Clearly by now you see the parallels to Leftism.
How to Avoid Being That Person
- Assume you might be wrong. (Yes, even you.)
- Seek out real experts—not just the ones who agree with you.
- Test your beliefs. If your ideas keep failing in reality, maybe they’re bad.
Final Thought
The Dunning-Kruger effect doesn’t care about your politics—it’s an equal-opportunity destroyer of logic. However, Leftists suffer the syndrome much more than conservatives. And this is why Leftists are highly incompetent. Ergo, the most incompetent people are often the loudest, and the rest of us have to suffer for it.
It’s time we stop rewarding confidence over competence.
