In Jonathan Haidt’s book Happiness Hypothesis, he describes human behavior with a metaphor of an elephant and a rider. The elephant is our emotional side, and the rider is our rational side. The rider can poke and prod the elephant to direct it where to go, but if the elephant protests, there is nothing the rider can do. In addition, Haidt describes how when the elephant takes control and takes the rider somewhere the rider does not want to be, the rider will act as a lawyer and justify the elephant’s behavior.
I suspect an example of this is emerging across a population at the moment. Many people who voted for Biden have begun to confront the extent of his mental decline. In the past week, a flurry of clips emerged of Biden clearly struggling and recent polling has shown that the main word Americans use to describe Biden is “old”. It is excellent that people are finally waking up to the truth, but they are not waking up to the full truth.
Biden’s mental decline is not new. His 2020 presidential campaign was filled with odd interviews, stuttering, long pauses, and weird bouts of anger.
- Segment on CBS This Morning from August 5, 2020 – Biden “shrugs off” taking a cognitive test.
- Speech on October 24, 2020 – Biden makes up a word “Trueinternationaldepressure”.
- Campaign rally in February 2020 – Biden responds to a question from one of his supporters questions by calling her a “lying dog-faced pony soldier”.
- Angry exchange from March 2020 – Biden argues with an autoworker about guns and tells him he is “full of shit”.
- Speech at an event in Delaware on June 26, 2017 – Biden rambles for 14 minutes about his interaction with gangster “Corn Pop” and how children would touch his hairy legs.
- If you watch nothing else, watch this one. Commenter @bunny5728 created timestamps for this insane ramble.
The final piece of evidence is a speech that Biden made in July of 2016 (less than one year before the “Corn Pop” speech) at the Democratic National Convention. He is clear, cogent, comfortable, and energetic. He is not stuttering or struggling for words. When I watch him making this speech it makes me sad because it makes his current mental state so much more obvious.
If you are “just noticing” Joe Biden’s mental decline, the full truth is that you were ignoring it before. The signs were clear and available. You were probably scared of another Trump presidency and your amygdala (the elephant) wasn’t letting you notice that Joe Biden’s mental health was failing. If you can see the full truth now, if you can see the unpleasant place your elephant has carried you, your rider is probably coming up with explanations and justifications for why you actually intended to end up here. Consider simply admitting that you made a mistake. It’s quite alright, we all do it.
To Trump voters: wipe that smile off your face because Trump spent hundreds of millions of dollars in 2020 just to lose to this guy and he may lose again.
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