July 21st cover of the new yorker

[BigV]

I think that term "smarter" is a loaded term.

There are areas where I know more than other people, and vice versa. That's not hubris. That's reality. Where is the "overweening pride"?

How do you parse xoB's statement? That is isn't satire, because some people will believe the untruths illustrated? In that case it would seem that you include yourself in the smarter group, no? Is your hubris showing here?

Or, maybe I have it wrong. Maybe you believe it is satire because everyone is as smart as you and will disbelieve it. If that's the case, what's the point of the cover at all? Why choose those elements, if they're all universally understood to be false? Why not choose other aspect equally universally absurd--that he has two heads, or that McCain will be his VP?

Look at your sig:

Originally Posted by jinx's sig

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken

This cover is an example of Mencken's point: a series of menacing, imaginary hobgoblins.

xoB's statement is something of a trap.