Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The problem is, we're not vigilant but think we are. Most people don't really want to dig deep under the surface of things because they are afraid of what they will find and they don't know what to do about it. So they adopt an 'ignorance is bliss' attitude. Eventually, the illusions will be popped.
Like MargaretBartle, in general, I find the 'educated' upper middle class to be among the most brainwashed. It makes sense if you think about it. They're not at the highest levels of the power pyramid, but high enough to enjoy most of the benefits. They don't want to bite the hand that feeds their comfortable lifestyles and social status. Too much to lose.
Please indulge me, who is here to save us all then? The lowly educated rubes who see through it all and see it for what it actually is? The 'Q' brigade? Flat earthers? Anti-vaxxers? Other conspiracy theory wonks? I've read a fair share of cynical thoughts on who's trustworthy and who isn't, but I haven't seen a single post that addresses a solution or who is at the forefront of bringing all this corruption down.
See, IMO, a moderate dose of skepticism is always healthy. But when one becomes fully immersed in cynicism and allows it to dictate their attitude, and contests the trustworthiness of any entity or any idea, that to me is a sign of intellectual laziness. It's really easy to be dismissive due to "a lack of trust" in anything, but it takes a lot of effort to do the research and stand by an argument that you can substantiate with data and facts. It's funny that you think that the upper middle classes are the most brainwashed because they're allegedly "taken care of", when it's apathy that is the true goal of those who seek power. Once you stop participating, that's when more and more power is up for grabs.
Reality, objectivity and science are all, generally speaking, anything but reality and objective.
I'll have what you're smoking.
But in all seriousness, I don't have a problem with people who go against the grain...when they're actually setting out to achieve something big. Movers and shakers are often going against the grain and battling the status quo against all odds. But if you're the type who considers going against the grain as bloviating on forums about the latest conspiracy theories while locked up in your basement, I don't think much of you at all.
It is all about echo-chambers on the web. Remember at the beginning of the Internet only wealthier people had it and the information was pretty good. Now people with very low IQ's have access, even the homeless. Many are easily led down a path due to an echo-chamber that agrees with their thinking. They always think they are right because no one every questions their thinking. This is why people are so offended so easily these days. They live in an echo-chamber and then someone says something that doesn't gel with their feed.
It is all about echo-chambers. I think people over 40 have a HUGE advantage in understanding this better. They lived much of their lives with people questioning their thinking and weren't offended by it as it is an attack on them.
Hope this helps. I think we are in for more and more violence as echo-chambers can lead the not so smart or people that run on emotion into violent acts. I think we are seeing the tip of the iceberg as far as the rise in violence. Sadly, this effects minorities the most.
The people least effected by all of this are people in a more homogeneous area. The country and Japan come to mind.
It just shows how low we are fallen with our education and constructive thinking.
Although, on the Internet - I seriously believe that some outrageous statements are written by trolls just for heck of it.
They don't believe what they write but they have a heck of a fun making gullible people even more stupid.
The crazier and more inflammatory the idea, the more attention it gets. In fact, to keep getting attention, ideas MUST get crazier. And attention, clicks, views, and likes rule over everything else.
But in all seriousness, I don't have a problem with people who go against the grain...when they're actually setting out to achieve something big. Movers and shakers are often going against the grain and battling the status quo against all odds. But if you're the type who considers going against the grain as bloviating on forums about the latest conspiracy theories while locked up in your basement, I don't think much of you at all.
I've always just figured that REALLY bright, important people have better things to do than hang out in forums. LOL
What alarms me the most is that, even while you may not seriously think about them, these ideas are gaining traction in the marketplace of ideas. There used to be some comfort in the idea that stupid ideas will eventually lose out and fade away. But now some of these stupid ideas are on the main stage, or worse, front and center. Stupidity is gaining grown, and I fear it's only a matter of time before it starts winning on a regular basis.
What's even scarier is that we're being told to 'shut up' when it comes to addressing false or fictitious information. You can't address misinformation on certain 'hot' topics on this forum because now it's considered rude or controversial or stirring the pot.
Willful ignorance, illiteracy and a general loss of critical thinking skills have been gaining ground for decades.
One theory is that the root cause of this trend is communication technology. Critical thinking skills began to be eroded many decades ago with the emergence of television. There is a reason why back in the day TV was referred to as the "boob tube". It was the first technology that really had the ability to have a significant degrading impact on our psyche. Television displaced reading for many people, and we know that reading is directly associated with critical thinking skills and general awareness and knowledge.
Now we have the Internet, where any paranoid theory or idea no matter how ludicrous can be instantly broadcast to hundreds of millions of recipients. These are ideas that pre-Internet might been shared by a few acquaintances, or maybe through printed material or TV or radio. Without exaggeration, today with the power of the Internet the ability to spread disinformation has been amplified literally millions of times.
On top of that technology is beginning to erode our personal storehouses of knowledge. Why commit facts to memory when a quick Google search can retrieve hundreds of hits in an instant? No matter that the "facts" we gather from that search could have been falsified or exaggerated and may not have been checked for accuracy.
Last edited by GearHeadDave; 10-26-2021 at 07:00 PM..
It seems as of late, perhaps due to social media, there is a prevalence of stupid, ignorant, and asinine viewpoints among us. And I'm not just railing against "the viewpoints I disagree with". These are viewpoints that are not based in any sort of reality or objectivity or science-based approach. They are composed of delusions, conspiracy theories, and other radical unfounded ideals.
It feels to me as if there is a war among us. The war is between all those people who worked their asses off in school, got good grades, earned degrees, followed the rules, etc., on one side, and the misfits, outcasts, burnouts, slackers, etc., on the other side.
Smart people usually know they're smart typically by realizing and acknowledging how much they actually don't know and attempting to pursue knowledge in those areas. Stupid people do not know they are a stupid. In fact, many of them think they are incredibly smart. So they wind up being the loudest, bloviating, tyrannical ego-maniacs out there. And all the while, smart people are expected to live amongst these morons and idiots while also playing nicely with them. You can't talk down to them, you can't call them out for what they are. Rather you're supposed to patiently listen to them, give them a platform, and try to reason with them. Well you can't reason with people who didn't reason themselves into a viewpoint in the first place.
It is absolutely mind boggling that we have regressed so much in such a short amount of time. I'm legitimately concerned for future generations as to what they will be up against. It will be the C-D-E students running things while the A-B students are shouted down and told to keep silent. The idiocracy is prevailing at an alarming rate, and it is terrifying.
More like A-B students will be expected to just be quiet and keep everything running and efficient. While the C-D-F students get to think they're in charge and given titles to satisfy their egos.
That's sort of the model they've got going on in most Red States already.
I'll leave you with a chilling excerpt from a book written by a man you've probably heard of:
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
― Carl Sagan,
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Now we have the Internet, where any paranoid theory or idea no matter how ludicrous can be instantly broadcast to hundreds of millions of recipients. These are ideas that pre-Internet might been shared by a few acquaintances, or maybe through printed material or TV or radio. Without exaggeration, today with the power of the Internet the ability to spread disinformation has been amplified literally millions of times.
I think that goes both ways. Now a paranoid theory can be written off as the reason that people are acting in a certain way and, as long as the speaker is loud enough, an entire group can have motives ascribed to them that are not accurate.
Whereas.... perhaps, some of the reasons, if actually looked into and not covered with a broad mask, may actually have a point and, in fact, we probably might agree on.
Again I would argue that media is the intelligence destroyer and as long as it has the loudest voice things will seem out of control and desperate.
Quote:
On top of that technology is beginning to erode our personal storehouses of knowledge. Why commit facts to memory when a quick Google search can retrieve hundreds of hits in an instant? No matter that the "facts" we gather from that search could have been falsified or exaggerated and may not have been checked for accuracy
.
I think this is a massive part of it. It is legit hard these days to find facts. Even if you search scientific studies all day it is well known that about 50% of them inaccurate in some way. But that doesn't stop media from blaring them everyplace.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
