Stupidity as a contagion?

[StarCruiser]

With all of the insane things going on - much of it prompted by incompetent politicians and "crazy people with blood in their eyes" (to steal a line from Don Henley), you have to wonder if stupidity is actually a transmittable disease...

It used to only be spread by direct or at least visible/audible contact between the stupid and normal people of the world but now - watch out! We have the internet with glorious social media to spread the infection far and wide!

I do know - quite well - that the internet itself is not guilty of this offense, in and of itself but, it has become so 'infected' with hateful, bigoted and stupid 'speechifying' (might be a Fetus Hagen thing?) that you do have to wonder where this is going to end.

As to how it will end? This guy already knows:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I think it's an unfortunate combination of several factors.
People nowadays appear to lack common sense and the ability to think for themselves. To a certain extent, I blame their parents who didn't teach them how to seek and gain information. Younglings who always get anything by just whining "I want" and who never had to strive in person to gain what they wish, have no practise in solving problems and therefore also no experience in distinguishing between trustworthy and questionable information. That makes them the ideal prey for any rumour, misconception or in the worst case deliberate misinformation. And the most effective medium to spread those is the internet.

Now, the big problem is: if someone does something stupid out of spite, you whack him/her one and they'll stop it. But if they do stupid things out of genuine stupidity, what can you do? How do you get people to start thinking? How do you de-bug a brain and plug in common sense?

 

[Jayson1]

To me it isn't about being stupid but how we lack strong leaders and they system is falling apart. No leaders people turn to any idiot that clams to have soultion. Then you take American narcissim that has always been around and put it on something like the internet were they need to be even a little civil is no longer needed. Jason

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

A transmittable psychological disease, maybe. Not a virus (unless you buy the Red Dwarf idea that things like luck can be a virus).

And the 24/7 news coverage of every little stupid thing that happens everywhere could certainly be a means of transmission. The more stupid shit they show, the more stupid shit happens.

Monkey see monkey do-itis.

 

[Armus]

Turn your smartphone off for a day. It might save your life.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

As a matter of perception, media does have a role to play in the idea that everything everywhere is going a little insane. Those stories get ratings and clicks. But stupid stuff has been going on forever, and that won't change anytime soon. That said, I do constantly wish for more love and rational thinking in society.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

As a matter of perception, media does have a role to play in the idea that everything everywhere is going a little insane. Those stories get ratings and clicks. But stupid stuff has been going on forever, and that won't change anytime soon. That said, I do constantly wish for more love and rational thinking in society.

Anything we can think of really has been happening forever, but the constant coverage of these things now makes for an epidemic.

 

[Armus]

The media, the internet, and talk radio thrives on conflict and division. But by and large people in western civilization are more distracted, less happy, and lazier than their forebears. Mass shootings are becoming more common than ever. People didn't use to do shit like that. If they were unhappy they wouldn't try to take anyone with them. Something is up.

 

[StarCruiser]

Turn your smartphone off for a day. It might save your life.

I've NEVER been a fan of so called "Smart Phones"... Pointless junk, frankly. I have to use one for my job but, I have never bought one for myself.

 

[StarCruiser]

The media, the internet, and talk radio thrives on conflict and division. But by and large people in western civilization are more distracted, less happy, and lazier than their forebears. Mass shootings are becoming more common than ever. People didn't use to do shit like that. If they were unhappy they wouldn't try to take anyone with them. Something is up.

And, on the mass shooting thing - there are FAR too many dangerous people (crackpots, nutjobs etc...) that are able to purchase guns - no questions asked. The NRA (actually founded simply to ensure "Yankees" knew how to shoot straight after the US Civil War) has become the tool of the firearms industry.

The big lie they try to push is that "Americans have always had lots of guns" and that's not true. 200 plus years ago, guns were actually VERY expensive and most Americans did NOT own one. Especially if they lived in a major city like New York or Boston. Now, if they lived out on the old frontier (like beyond the Ohio valley), they might have bought a rifle for hunting.

The average armed American probably only had a sword or knife, at the most. And it's likely that a sword meant that either they took fencing lessons at some point, or were in the military or militia. Any concentration of firearms would typically be in a militia armory (why else would the British army have been marching to Lexington and Concord to seize the armory).

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

And, on the mass shooting thing - there are FAR too many dangerous people (crackpots, nutjobs etc...) that are able to purchase guns - no questions asked. The NRA (actually founded simply to ensure "Yankees" knew how to shoot straight after the US Civil War) has become the tool of the firearms industry.

The big lie they try to push is that "Americans have always had lots of guns" and that's not true. 200 plus years ago, guns were actually VERY expensive and most Americans did NOT own one. Especially if they lived in a major city like New York or Boston. Now, if they lived out on the old frontier (like beyond the Ohio valley), they might have bought a rifle for hunting.

The average armed American probably only had a sword or knife, at the most. And it's likely that a sword meant that either they took fencing lessons at some point, or were in the military or militia. Any concentration of firearms would typically be in a militia armory (why else would the British army have been marching to Lexington and Concord to seize the armory).

I don't have numbers, but aren't more crackpots stealing guns, or at least buying them illegally than getting them through legit means?

Definitely gang-bangers are using stolen weapons most of the time, not sure about these other idiots.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I've NEVER been a fan of so called "Smart Phones"... Pointless junk, frankly. I have to use one for my job but, I have never bought one for myself.

I also have one from work, and have never bought one for myself. But that's mainly just because Canadian data plans are ridiculous, and since work was already providing me with one, why incur an additional expense I couldn't really afford anyway? Sure, it means I can't load it up with apps and music and such, but they allow me to use it for texting and internet, so I can't complain.

But I don't have any animosity towards the phones themselves. The phones are just a tool, and are neither inherently good or bad. It's really about how one uses (or abuses) the tool. I can't really see phones being any worse than personal computers... which is what people would use for the same functions they use their phones for now, if the phones didn't exist.

And I'm sure a lot of the marvels of modern society could be labelled as "pointless junk", if one was so inclined!

 

[StarCruiser]

I don't have numbers, but aren't more crackpots stealing guns, or at least buying them illegally than getting them through legit means?

Definitely gang-bangers are using stolen weapons most of the time, not sure about these other idiots.

The gang-bangers - yes - usually stolen guns. The US has a very spotty and ineffective background check process with LOTs of loopholes. You can, in many states, go to a gun show and buy just about anything you want and no one runs a background check. So, most of these maniacs are buying guns from a dealer at a gun show.

Some others just don't have a criminal record, or have just not shown up on the -right- radar (even the FBI is a bit sloppy about this). They get what they want just about anywhere.

I'm a gun owner myself but, mine was bought legitimately and I would NEVER consider hurting innocent people with it. The very thought is disgusting.

The most painful thing is, a lot of these idiots call themselves "Christians"... Have they never read the Bible? Did they only listen to 'Westboro Baptist Church' rhetoric. What was it that Jesus said about hatred and the like? I was raised in a religious home (not really religious now) and I can't recall anything about hating people with different skin colors or who speak another language. I know the Bible has a lot of contradictions in it but, the basic idea is "be excellent to each other" - right?

 

[suarezguy]

I think a lot of the supposed stupidity comes down to how polarized we are and how the system to an extent forces us to be, even makes it pretty rational to be that way.

In particular it's often considered stupid to support or not oppose Donald Trump, if people were smarter they wouldn't believe him and wouldn't support him, and yet it can be quite rational for people to support him even if they do dislike him-obviously, if they think the main opponent is worse (there is the option to not vote for either of them, which many do do, but non-participation is pretty unappealing and normatively dubious). The idea that if one's bad the other must be better is pretty not thought-out.

Stupidity is also often enough associated with not being deferential to, being irreverent to experts, i.e. it's stupid to support tariffs experts because x% of experts, x number of association of experts have declared that tariffs are counterproductive. Rejecting experts' conclusions isn't necessarily wise but neither is deferring to them.

 

[StarCruiser]

I seriously would have wrote in "the rotting corpse of Teddy Roosevelt" instead of voting for Hillary Clinton (could not bring myself - a lifelong registered Republican to vote for a conman). Unfortunately, the voting system in Texas no longer allows write ins...

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I seriously would have wrote in "the rotting corpse of Teddy Roosevelt" instead of voting for Hillary Clinton....

They do say "vote your conscience" I voted for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, so I kinda did that and at least Gary is alive.

But we got who we got, I've never agreed 100% with any president and Trump is in no danger of breaking that streak. He's right on some things and way off on others.

 

[StarCruiser]

What bothers the most about Trump (currently) is that he seems completely unable to empathize with anyone who isn't a sycophant...

He uses language so incompetently - even though he has so many "good words" - and manages to fumble everything over and over and has no clue that he did so!

And people wonder why his staff keeps running away...

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

What bothers the most about Trump (currently) is that he seems completely unable to empathize with anyone who isn't a sycophant...

He uses language so incompetently - even though he has so many "good words" - and manages to fumble everything over and over and has no clue that he did so!

And people wonder why his staff keeps running away...

Trump wouldn't come off so stupid if he'd stay off Twitter. Putting every single random thought out there is a bad idea for normal people, let alone the president.