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The Dawn Of The Age Of Ignorance?


Anubis
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Flat Earthers, fake Covid, chemtrails, 9-11ers, QAnonsense, and now people thinking snow is fabricated (at least in this one case by Bill Gates!!). Are we in danger of entering an age of ignorance where people revel in stupidity?

 

 

 

 

 

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There's a  bizarre phenomenon whereby mediocre people try to distinguish themselves as having insights into truths that the herd just don't see.  There's no particular distinction if your insights are quite widely shared: for example, whichever side of the Brexit debate you are on, about half the country will agree with you, so you won't stand out as anything special.   Instead, you have to pick something that 99% of the population accept as a long-proven self-evident truth (e.g. that the Earth is round; that jet engines emit harmless condensation; that vaccines save lives; etc.) and argue against that.  The wackier your claim, the bigger the "herd" who subscribe to the mainstream view and, consequently, the greater the kudos in breaking rank.  The internet gives you global access to like-minded inadequates and, hey presto, you can tell yourself you're one of a band of pioneering truth-seekers (instead of just a lonely, stupid cunt).

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What was that series of novels set in a future where humanity at large had rejected all science and knowledge in a great unlearning?

 

I sometimes wonder whether we're witnessing something similar now: I genuinely think that a lot of people are overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of knowledge at their disposal - due largely to the internet and the rapacious battle for their attention through social and print media. Rather than carefully and thoughtfully navigating a path through it, they just throw their hands up and say 'fuck it - I'll choose my own 'truth'. Then mollify themselves by padding-out their preconceived world-view with internet half-truths like a kid choosing pick-n-mix.  

 

Were also living through a time where the majority of the world have effectively been under house-arrest for a year, so that isn't helping at all. Schools should teach logic and empiricism from the get-go to help kids spot horseshit a mile off.

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It's weird, it all seemed to start in the early 2000s, the Jade Goodification of TV. 

 

Where once people aspired to be seen as refined or informed, the opposite became true. The more vulgar and stupid you were, the more you were perceived to not give a fuck and were hence, cooler. 

 

Dunno how or why it happened, but the implications are pretty sinister, as people can't take things seriously enough to seemingly actually give a fuck about serious issue, even ones surrounding life or death. 

 

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Started with Thatcher.  Or at least at that time.  Watch a documentary from the 1970's, and listen to how the narrator talks to the audience as though they are sentient, even intelligent.  Same with TV debates.  Intelligent, thought provoking stuff.  We've had 40 years of cynical dumbing down.  It's no wonder the world is so fucking thick that the majority can be distracted by shiny things.  Sedated, ignorant, suggestible.  There's no fucking escape from it. I blame my generation.  We let it happen.  

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2 hours ago, Anubis said:

Flat Earthers, fake Covid, chemtrails, 9-11ers, QAnonsense, and now people thinking snow is fabricated (at least in this one case by Bill Gates!!). Are we in danger of entering an age of ignorance where people revel in stupidity?

 

1 hour ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

The internet gives you global access to like-minded inadequates and, hey presto, you can tell yourself you're one of a band of pioneering truth-seekers (instead of just a lonely, stupid cunt).

 

I think the key here lies in your bit in bold, AoT... and the thread title.

We are (generally) talking very, very minuscule minorities here.

Probably much less now, than have thought such things for thousands of years.

The difference, now, is that social/internet gives them an amplified voice.

And, most important of all, attention.

Making all this cockamamy shit seem SO SO much bigger than it is.

But we don't have to pay attention.

"Ignorance" is a root of the verb ignore.

And that's the biggest problem here.

These idiots (a Greek word for "hermit") need to be cold shouldered.

Their views should be stupid and lonely.

Ignored.

But, money makers know there is money to be made in allowing for stupidity, fear and division to spread and fester.

So the capacity to ignore such minority nonsense becomes harder and harder.

As many of us as possible needs to press the ignore button.

 

Every person that promises to give idiocy no oxygen is a step in the right direction.

 

 

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25 minutes ago, Pete said:

Dawn? Seems to me we’re approaching midday and the sun is getting really hot.

Yep. Its lunchtime and ignorance just ordered the lobster.

 

These flat earth cunts do my head in. I don't know how, but somehow they think it's up to everyone else to prove to them that the earth is a sphere. They're the ones challenging accepted wisdom, surely the onus is on them to prove otherwise? People need to stop humouring the cunts.

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1 hour ago, General Dryness said:

Yep. Its lunchtime and ignorance just ordered the lobster.

 

These flat earth cunts do my head in. I don't know how, but somehow they think it's up to everyone else to prove to them that the earth is a sphere. They're the ones challenging accepted wisdom, surely the onus is on them to prove otherwise? People need to stop humouring the cunts.

This is part of that ignorance. Sounds exactly the same as any religion too.

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I find it thoroughly depressing. Neither is it a small number of people. OK, in relation to the entire population of Earth, some 7+ billion people it might seem to be. But, the number of people who:

 

believe the Earth is flat

believe 'we' didnt land on the Moon

believe anything related to the ISS, satellites in orbit, landers on Mars or probes to the outer planets are cgi

believe covid is fake

believe that man co existed with dinosaurs

etc

 

is large and growing daily. They all spout bullshit that is relative easy to destroy if you know anything about the subject. The amount of flat earth disinformation alone is mind boggling. How come I see a different Polar star at the North and South Poles?

 

Kubrik's Moon walk 'special effects' in 2001, A space odessey are an utter joke.

 

Some people just seem to want to dream something up as being fake to get their moment of infamy on a You Tube channel or other social media.

 

I love a conspiracy theory as much as anyone but do I believe in them? Do I fuck.

 

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9 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

I find it thoroughly depressing. Neither is it a small number of people. OK, in relation to the entire population of Earth, some 7+ billion people it might seem to be. But, the number of people who:

 

believe the Earth is flat

believe 'we' didnt land on the Moon

believe anything related to the ISS, satellites in orbit, landers on Mars or probes to the outer planets are cgi

believe covid is fake

believe that man co existed with dinosaurs

etc

 

is large and growing daily. They all spout bullshit that is relative easy to destroy if you know anything about the subject. The amount of flat earth disinformation alone is mind boggling. How come I see a different Polar star at the North and South Poles?

 

Kubrik's Moon walk 'special effects' in 2001, A space odessey are an utter joke.

 

Some people just seem to want to dream something up as being fake to get their moment of infamy on a You Tube channel or other social media.

 

I love a conspiracy theory as much as anyone but do I believe in them? Do I fuck.

 

If I have the misfortune to get chatting with someone like this, and I have an understanding of the topic (I recently had to explain to someone that there are no embryos in the Covid vaccine), I will calmly try to inform them. If not, I ask them to explain in detail how their TV or laptop works, and hopefully watch the penny drop.

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