Wait until you learn that half of Americans don’t want Universal Healthcare, even if the cost in taxes would be cheaper than paying premiums to private insurance companies.
I used to think that a small portion of humanity was pants on head stupid an just loud, but now it seems that the proportion is roughly half.
Honestly, I dont think this is truly stupidity, at least beyond what is typical of everyone else, because intelligence is not the same thing as knowing facts. I dont think being uninformed is really the best word for it either, because if someone tells you something is true that conflicts with what you already think is true, just accepting this isnt really the intelligent thing to do, verifying it would be, and as most people do not have the expertise to verify most things, the best one can usually do is look to those one trusts as a source of information, and if the people that back up this new information are unknown to you but the people you already trust assure you that what you already believe to be true, is true, you dont really have a good reason to abandon that. What I think this is then is that a huge fraction of the population puts their trust in the wrong people, partly due to self perpetuating bad luck (one’s parents and family are likely to be the first people one trusts, and thus whoever they trust is likely to seem trustworthy to you as well, and if you are unlucky with what group you are born into and they trust the wrong sources of information, there’s therefore a decent likelihood that you will as well), and partly due to the fact that those that wish to intentionally deceive for their own ends are likely to know all kinds of psychological tricks to make themselves seem more trustworthy, and probably will be more willing to use them to manipulate public opinion to their own ends than an expert that just wants to share what they know.
or for a TLDR: I dont think counterproductive political opinions like this are a result of mass-stupidity, I think they’re proof that propaganda works, and that under the right set of circumstances, you or I or anyone could be made to fall for them.
Yes, belief is social. What our in-group believes is way more important for what we believe and how we change our minds than one might think.
Like, if someone is a flat-earther, changing their mind with facts and figures isn’t going to be very effective. Their in-group believes otherwise. And when you come at them with contrary facts, the brain treats it similarly to a physical threat to its survival. In ancient, pre-history humans, this might have been an advantage. The guy who didn’t go along with the group got left for dead. Unfortunately, modern life is more complicated.
If we want to make the world better, we should probably focus on breaking up shitty ingroups (eg: fox news, the gop) and fostering groups that are worthwhile (I can’t think of an unassailable group, which may indicate another problem)
Me: Happy to see a meme referencing a town 20 mins from me (Stockport)
This guy: Brings it back to America.
USA-Defaultism is one hell of a drug, very popular due to the opioid epidemic.
What’s the difference btw british and britons ?
You can have a British car but only British people are Britons.
It gets more complicated in history as Britons referred to the Celtic people of Britain, as opposed to the Romans, then later the various other peoples who made up the rich tapestry of Middle Ages Britain: the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, etc. It’s why the British Isles includes Ireland because the Insular Celts were once all Britons.
I refuse. I refuse to be Briton and I refuse you as my king.
Did you thought I would let it pass just because you have cake day? No sir, no…
The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.
They’d go if there was a crappy resort town with English speaking bartenders and a branch of Greggs.
The thing is that you can’t guarantee safety. Things can always go wrong. Perhaps that’s why people are cautious about it.
Everything can go wrong in one way or another, it just depends how high the risk is. People drive their car every day, even if there is a chance that they wont make it to the next day because of it.
But the risk just isnt felt to be too high in comparison to the usefulness, or people wouldnt drive.
If I knew that it was fairly safe to go to the moon, I would do it, even if it could mean that I dont come back, because it would be a pretty special experience.
It lacks atmosphere
