Incompetence vs Malice

Comments debate whether failures, poor decisions, or problematic actions stem from incompetence rather than deliberate malice, often citing Hanlon's Razor.

➡️ Stable 0.6x Politics & Society
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#9010
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Keywords

CNET IC DNI LOL incompetence incompetent malice attribute malice attribute indistinguishable sheer competent sufficiently explained

Sample Comments

pydry Jun 15, 2021 View on HN

Incompetence isn't quite how I'd describe this.

oneoff786 Jul 19, 2022 View on HN

What if they’re just incompetent

gradus_ad Jun 5, 2024 View on HN

Incompetence does a fine job of explaining this, no?

catalogia Mar 18, 2020 View on HN

Seems like a trend of incompetence.

rsynnott Dec 19, 2020 View on HN

This one seems unusually incompetent.

tambourine_man Mar 31, 2023 View on HN

Not for the lack of trying, just sheer incompetence.

Simon_says Feb 29, 2020 View on HN

Maybe they're incompetent.

gertef Jul 29, 2017 View on HN

You may be assuming intent where there is really only incompetence

boeingUH60 Mar 11, 2023 View on HN

No need to attribute to malice when sheer incompetence can explain it.

iamacyborg May 11, 2022 View on HN

There’s failure and then there’s incompetence, this seems to be the latter.