So...is this conspiracy theory thing just a phase, or is politics going to be like this from now on?

[TheDarceKnight]

dumbest populace on the planet

Maybe. But sadly more and more of the other developed 1st world countries are having a higher and higher number of loons and conspiracy theorists.

The entire world is sort of getting dumber, which is scary, although we do stand out.

 

[ogc163]

The lack of critical thinking skills is to blame. You can be "smart" and still have subpar critical thinking skills, which is why so many college-educated people can sincerely co-sign silly shyt.

Couple that with humans preferring neat narratives vs complex reality, more narratives being spread because of social media, and a lack of information filters and you end up in our current situation.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

The lack of critical thinking skills is to blame. You can be "smart" and still have subpar critical thinking skills, which is why so many college-educated people can sincerely co-sign silly shyt.

Couple that with humans preferring neat narratives vs complex reality, more narratives being spread because of social media, and a lack of information filters and you end up in our current situation.

Yep. Conspiracies are more soothing because they mean outcomes are less subject to chaos and randomness. With a conspiracy, at least horrible things were a part of some plan.

It can be more settling to think 9/11 was pre-planned by our government than to accept that all it takes change history and the trajectory of the world is a dozen insane people with boxcutters.

 

[ogc163]

Yep. Conspiracies are more soothing because they mean outcomes are less subject to chaos and randomness. With a conspiracy, at least horrible things were a part of some plan.

It can be more settling to think 9/11 was pre-planned by our government than to accept that all it takes change history and the trajectory of the world is a dozen insane people with boxcutters.

Tyler Cowen has one of the best videos going against the need for stories and narratives:



This week I spent so much time explaining to my friends that what happened with Gamestop was not part of some grand conspiracy. But when you have shyt like #lawyertiktok where clowns are pushing conspiracies then it becomes insurmountable.

 

[Robbie3000]

This is all evidence that more information does not make a society smarter, it does the exact opposite.

It’s becoming apparent people are not equipped to deal with all this information especially when they can retreat to their respective echo chambers.

I saw homies that I respect and are educated, fall prey to the likes of Tariq Nasheed, Yvette Carnell and Jimmy Dore.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Tyler Cowen has one of the best videos going against the need for stories and narratives:



This week I spent so much time explaining to my friends that what happened with Gamestop was not part of some grand conspiracy. But when you have shyt like #lawyertiktok where clowns are pushing conspiracies then it becomes insurmountable.

Just curious, what did your friend say about GameStop? If you don’t mind.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

It’s becoming apparent people are not equipped to deal with all this information especially when they can retreat to their respective echo chambers.

I saw homies that I respect and are educated, fall prey to the likes of Tariq Nasheed, Yvette Carnell and Jimmy Dore.

A crazy thing too is that if you’re a pretty open minded person it’s kind of easy to get sucked into any echo chamber. I sort of did a little experiment on myself, because I’m a real open minded guy.

I did an experiment where for 4 weeks, I’d get all my news each week from a new source (but only 1 source) each week, and read the same 1-2 people for opinion pieces. I could almost feel myself by the end of each week feeling like I was primed to agree with their takes before I even heard the full stories, and had to check myself.

I was a philosophy major with a lot of logic and media literacy classes. I know if I could see myself falling prey to that, that it absolutely happens to many people.

It actually takes a surprising amount of time and effort to get well rounded perspectives on issues. Almost no serious issues have easy solutions. Even educating yourself well on one issue can take more time and every than many people have. Most people are too busy to stay just adequately informed in today’s culture of misinformation.

I don’t want to start talking in circles. But I guess I’m just saying I understand how well educated people can fall into bad echo chambers. It’s almost like how people that work in finance or accountants can still fall prey to MLM schemes.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

P-Anon












.

 

[CourtesyFlush]

The lack of critical thinking skills is to blame. You can be "smart" and still have subpar critical thinking skills, which is why so many college-educated people can sincerely co-sign silly shyt.

Couple that with humans preferring neat narratives vs complex reality, more narratives being spread because of social media, and a lack of information filters and you end up in our current situation.

Boom. You nailed it breh. Nicely said

 

[Losttribe]

QAnon
COVID is fake/caused by 5G/etc

Flat Earthers

Reptilians secretly running the govt

Stop the Steal

Pizzagate
Climate change is a hoax

Anti-vaxxers



There are many millions of people that believe all or some of the above. Dumb conspiracy theories have always been around but it's never been this bad that I can remember. When flat earth "theory" blew up a couple years ago and millions of people convinced themselves the earth was flat I knew things were headed south.

So is this going to calm down now that Cheeto is out of office, or are we going to have to permanently deal with like 35% of the populace pretty much divorced from reality?

The fact that you put vaccine concerns and reptilians on the same level...
Or if you think there are no political sex rings or pedophile rings.... just because conspiracy people have hyped it up or
Just because Flat Earth is some goofy shyt.... doesnt mean there isnt other global conspiracy is

WHY
We will always have these elements.

We will need to eliminate people like you, and also eliminate conspiracy people in order to have any balance.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

The lack of critical thinking skills is to blame. You can be "smart" and still have subpar critical thinking skills, which is why so many college-educated people can sincerely co-sign silly shyt.

Couple that with humans preferring neat narratives vs complex reality, more narratives being spread because of social media, and a lack of information filters and you end up in our current situation.

Yep. Conspiracies are more soothing because they mean outcomes are less subject to chaos and randomness. With a conspiracy, at least horrible things were a part of some plan.

It can be more settling to think 9/11 was pre-planned by our government than to accept that all it takes change history and the trajectory of the world is a dozen insane people with boxcutters.

It’s becoming apparent people are not equipped to deal with all this information especially when they can retreat to their respective echo chambers.

I saw homies that I respect and are educated, fall prey to the likes of Tariq Nasheed, Yvette Carnell and Jimmy Dore.

All spot on. This is the crux of the issue.

 

[ogc163]

In college a student should have to take:

• Statistics 101 to help understand probability and outliers
• Informal Logic to understand logical fallacies and deductive/inductive reasoning
• Behavioral Psychology to understand biases
• A negotiation course to better understand tradeoffs and constraints

 

[Majestyx]

In college a student should have to take:

• Statistics 101 to help understand probability and outliers
• Informal Logic to understand logical fallacies and deductive/inductive reasoning
• Behavioral Psychology to understand biases
• A negotiation course to better understand tradeoffs and constraints

i feels like maybe we start with this in high school.

 

[Majestyx]

I got a homie that i've know for 20yrs. He all about this shyt. guy wount say the words "vaccine" "covid" or "trump" over the phone. like, are you the guy they really looking for breh

fool said "the v-word" i was like "virgins?!?!"

 

[Professor Emeritus]

I’ve also noticed a lot of the conspiracies moved from UFOs and other worldly type stuff to more government based internal/American conspiracies.

The irony too is that the Pentagon and Department of Defense are admitting UFOs are real, likely not from earth, and yet no one seems to care.

This isn't true. One or two UFO-buffs who were contacted by the government to look into some stuff made that claim and sensationalist headlines made it look like an official government statement.