I can stomach a superiority complex if it's just a companion trait to a deep commitment and caring for a cause other than oneself. And this man was deeply committed not just to himself and ego, but to his work, and to helping the people around him. He was even a liberal ... but an authentic one.
So this man had a million ... what we would consider flaws, and often it was hard to learn from him, because you really had to tamp down your ego and do a cost benefit analysis. I was learning software ... so his silly positions on everything else could be put up with, my mind was not being poisoned.
Now you have Cruz - whom any of us should love.
But you don't ... you can't ... you'd be overriding a part of yourself that doesn't respond to wishes and rationalizations ... instinct.
There are two reasons, and they are the fundamental differences be Cruz, whom I wouldn't let in my yard near my cat, and this mentor I had, whom I love in the way you love a hard, flawed but authentic, father:
Cruz is not authentic, you have to guess what his clever scheme is, even when he's talking to his own voters. And two, you get the very very deep sense that what he is committed to, is only himself.
This second trait can be confusing because he doesn't know it
Consider a man who can only see oranges, not apples.
If all he ever selected at the grocery store were oranges, you might think he was consciously ignoring apples. But he's not - he doesn't see them, so they are not part of his reality.
Others ... are not part of his reality, and never were. He never chose himself over others. He never had the choice, he never perceived anything other than himself.
The reason he doesn't "connect" is that while he perceives many bodies around him, in front of him, they appear to him as inanimate objects. This is the autism/aspergers/antisocial/narcissism/sociopath spectrum trait. It's not evil - although it causes evil - it just is what it is. Not perceiving others as instances of himself, but rather, other 'things' ... there is really no question, I would do the same thing ... you use them and manipulate them so that they will do what you want them to do to forward your aims.
It's very hard to reconcile because we are trained to think that people like him must have some evil intent. They don'tj ... although they do tremendous harm.
But you have to understand - Ted Cruz does not perceive himself to be in a world surrounded by 'beings just like him.'
This is how he can mistake himself for brilliant, clever, good, honest etc.
When you meet these people -> there is only one thing you can do to make the situation better: Either have them removed from your property, or run.
They will destroy your life quickly or slowly, but usually without you knowing it or what's happening, and as your life increases in negativity, you will look not at them but at yourself or others -> why? Because you will perceive no evil intent (there is none per se.)
Ted is missing a piece of the clay that makes a person a human being.
Because of that, he resembles Pinocchio -> not an evil figure, but a liar, made of wood. Will Cruz ever develop past this? It's possible something that he perceives as a great tragedy will point him inward to look for the source of the problem rather than outward.
It's conceivable that he's a different man in 10 years. He's risen as high as he can on debate skills ... an that act allowed him not to develop ... so his winning formula that allowed him not to developer is crashing.
What remains to be seen is does he parlay it into a life that feeds his ego enough, or does he crash and burn seeing his debate skills don't make him omnipotent ... and then ... he either looks within or he doesn't.
There was a time when I cared about people like that ... but I've since come to know that there isn't much my caring will do for them. God either turns on the light inside their heads or He doesn't. I have no idea whether it happens because they've done something to deserve the light or not. I think God gives them the opportunity to suffer, and they either look inside or look outside. When and if they emerge from that suffering, and whether, if they emerge, they emerge changed or just re-enforced - a harder version of what they were - more convinced that what they were was right and they must be more of it - is entirely up to them. Lacking any evidence of humility, it's unlikely a man like Ted Cruz would look inside asking the question 'is there something wrong here with me? Have I brought this on myself?'
Interesting.
What an incredible response to my comments. Thank you. It helps me understand not just Ted Cruz, but so many others of the same mindset.
Great post! Especially this:
“The reason he doesn’t “connect” is that while he perceives many bodies around him, in front of him, they appear to him as inanimate objects. This is the autism / aspergers / antisocial / narcissism / sociopath spectrum trait. It’s not evil - although it causes evil - it just is what it is. Not perceiving others as instances of himself, but rather, other ‘things’ ... there is really no question, I would do the same thing ... you use them and manipulate them so that they will do what you want them to do to forward your aims.”