As a clinical psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, I am often faced with untangling questions like these: Are people genuinely unable to grasp a concept, or are they hiding knowledge from themselves for some reason unknown even to them, or are they aware they know better but are simply pretending not to know? Bluntly, are they just plain stupid (genuinely of low intelligence) or more insidiously pseudostupid—feigning a lack of understanding that can serve various motives and purposes? As a concerned Georgia resident, Kemp’s handling of this pandemic has resurfaced this question for me front and center.
Kemp ran as a gun toting conservative and may truly believe no invisible enemy is going to get the better of him or his constituents. This would be an example of a kind of everyday denial—”I can smoke all I want, cancer’s never going to get me.” That’s just plain stupid. Or he may understand fully the risks of his decision but realize his political survival depends on the success of his gamble. His preposterous disclaimer in early April followed now by his decision to throw caution to the wind then would exemplify pseudostupidity. Continue reading.