Sticks and Stones...

If you’ve read the last post comments, Keith Meyer has managed to declare that I am a jerk.

Jerk –noun
1. a quick, sharp pull, thrust, twist, throw, or the like; a sudden movement: The train started with a jerk.
2. a spasmodic, usually involuntary, muscular movement, as the reflex action of pulling the hand away from a flame.
3. any sudden, quick movement of the body, as in dodging something.
4. Slang. a contemptibly naive, fatuous, foolish, or inconsequential person.

There are other definitions, but that is a start, and I ended the list with the one that he likely was referring to. He made this profound conclusion after I responded to a question that I am not going to answer in the same typing format that he did; a reversal of lower case and capital letters. Now if he was going to resort to name calling, and has an IQ over 75 as he claims to in another blog, he could have certainly selected a more accurate term.

In Mr. Meyer’s current state of mind, whatever that may be, it seems he is showing true colors, and to recognize that would not describe someone that is a jerk… foolish and inconsequential. As a matter of fact, in an effort not to be fatuous, I resisted posting anything about Mr. Meyer in the blog since he was not re-elected and does get my respect for his years of public service. I am not naïve in the fact that his behavior should predictably change to lashing out and name-calling since he seems to need to vent his frustration in public forum, for example, at churches being remodeled, at the skate park, from the city council chamber, etc. When I compare his foolish behavior both pre and post election to the president it makes sense when psychological principles are attached to it. Here is an excerpt from a psychiatrist in reference to President Bush:

At this point, the president seems to have entered a place in his psyche where he is discounting all external criticism and unpopularity, and fixing stubbornly on his illusion of vindication, because he's still "The Decider," who can just keep deciding until he gets to success. It's hard not to feel something heroic in this position - but it's a recipe for bad, if not catastrophic, decisions. Psychologically, President Bush has received support for so long because many have thought of him as "one of us." Most of us feel inadequate in some way, and watching him we can feel his inadequacies and sense his uncertainties, so we admire him for "pulling it off." His model tells us, "If you act like you're confident and competent, then you are." We are the culture that values the power of positive thinking and seeks assertiveness training. We believe that the right attitude can sometimes be more important than brains or hard work. He's bullied us, too. We don't dare to really confront the scale of his incompetent behavior, because then we would have to face what it means to have such an incompetent and psychologically disabled decision-maker as our president. It raises everyone's uncertainty. And that is, in fact, happening now. – John Briggs, M.D.

So not only is it explained that Keith doesn’t like not making any progress, it explains why anyone ever voted for him in the first place. When the uncertainty mounts and Keith just wasn’t pulling it off with his antics, he got voted out. Now that he is voted out, he is lashing out in an attempt to not become an inconsequential person which may be inevitable. So after being provoked, I think I have vented in the most prudent and politically correct manner possible. Not only did I submit that I am likely not a jerk, I think that I can justify saying that Keith Meyer is a contemptibly naive, fatuous, foolish, and inconsequential person. A jerk.

Cited Work: Bush and the Psychology of Incompetent Decisions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011807J.shtml