(This is my first diary, so please be gentle)
The theory stated below is not original to me, but is something I have posted on the wall of my office. It was given to me by a co-worker when I started this job but where she originally got it from, I don't know.
That said I think you'll find that it does a very good job of summing up not only the political career of Sarah Palin but also the McCain campaign in general.
The degree of certainty in one's level of competency is inversely proportional to the actual level.
Corollaries:
- The hopelessly incompetent are absolutely certain of their abilities.
- The competent always have sensible doubts, precisely for the reason the can realistically assess the situation.
- The incompetent never realize they are incompetent, precisely for the reason that they lack the competence necessary to discern the difference.
- The work of the incompetent tends to be superficial and bombastic. By extension of the Corollary 3, they are completely unaware of this and usual regard their work as profound and important. The converse also tends to be true: those who regard their work as profound and important usually have an unrealistic appreciation of their abilities (or lack thereof).
- The incompetent tend to hire people like themselves, since, for obvious reasons, they do not find their own kind threatening. Moreover, they usually confuse sensible doubts of the competent (see Corollary 2) with bad attitude, and the overconfidence of the incompetent (see corollary 4)with great promise.
- The competent are only tolerated because they are needed to perform all the necessary tasks that the incompetent regard as beneath them, but which are in reality, beyond their ability.
- The truly gifted don't even think about any of this. They just do their thing. The converse, however, is far from true.