What is an "A-plus Moron"?
Unaccountable, Arrogant IQ, squandered for foolish ends.
I define an “A-plus Moron”1 as someone with high IQ who fails to put themselves in others’ shoes or uses their intelligence to pursue foolish ends. This is often the result of unaccountability, arrogance and blind allegiance to ideological thinking.
1. Nuclear War or Brinksmanship
For example, it takes high intelligence to understand nuclear weapons, but it is foolish to advocate a policy of nuclear brinksmanship, or think the US would “win” a nuclear war against Russia if only 1,000 Russians survived, but 10 million Americans survived.2 3
Would America Win a Nuclear War? — Professor Ivana Nikolić Hughes @53:00
2. Maximizing/Minimizing Money has a Cost
McKinsey: Cut Disney Roller Coaster Maintenance:
McKinsey: Why do you check the lap bars on the Disney roller coaster daily when they rarely fail?
Maintenance worker: “The reason they don’t fail is because we check them every night.”
“Klostriech called him an idiot,” said Goodwin, who witnessed the exchange. Klostriech, he said, told the consultant:
It’s like a pilot saying: We haven’t crashed in a while, so let’s skip the pre-flight check.
McKinsey recommended Disney cut resources to safety, giving Disney a way to avoid accountability.
This is not the Disney you grew up with, and McKinsey faces no accountability for their consulting recommendations. They just offered “advice.”
Meanwhile Disney can say, It wasn’t our idea — It was recommended by this expensive consulting company that works for alls sorts of powerful companies and country. They can each point the finger and cancel out any accountability.
‘We have to ride these rides to failure to save money,’ said David O’Neill, a train operator who has worked at the park since 1957 and was among those present.4
“I was surprised anyone would say that.” (LA Times | Unrelated Congressional Testimony)
Elsewhere:
McKinsey: The Group Secretly Running Every Company (And the Government) More Perfect Union @6:11
FOOTNOTES:
I created the term “A-plus moron,” to serve my own thoughts, but I hear some other people may have also used this term.
Herman Kahn: “If 180 million dead is too high a price of punishing the Soviets for their aggression, what price would we be willing to pay?”[16] However, Kahn’s lectures sometimes had the opposite effect from that he intended as he spoke frankly about how a nuclear war would kill hundreds of millions of people, which had the effect of persuading people that nuclear weapons should be banned, which was not Kahn’s intention.[5] Abella 2009, p. 96.
This sort of “win” is what is know as a “Pyrrhic victory:” a victory gained at such a cost to the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.
The phrase references a statement attributed to Pyrrhus of Epirus. After his victory against the Romans in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC, Plutarch reports that Pyrrhus exclaimed “One more victory over the Romans and we are completely done for!”[2]. (Wikipedia)
The report is often quoted as:
If I achieve such a victory again, I shall return to Epirus without a single soldier.
The whole point of preventative maintainence is that you proactively replace a $5 part because this minimal expenditure will prevent much more expensive down-time or injury.