Why are people so stupid????? Honestly, why?

[RKP5637]

I think a lot of people on DU ponder this question from time to time. ... I was thinking about it this morning and came upon this website. I was thinking about some of my stupid, or predetermined, choices in life. And then damn, when one looks out across the world, there are some major WTF's. So, I'm just passing this along, just fyi, just seemed interesting. I've not looked throughout the entire site, but it seems interesting.

http://www.prettyfedup.com/pfu/philosophical/whyarepeoplesostupid.htm

[sibelian]

1. Because they think in nebulous, unprocessed, fuzzy, emotionally charged symbols

Instead of in logical structures.

You've got to seriously put someone through the mill before they realise that the world is a real place and not a cartoon.

[RKP5637]

3. Well said, especially your last sentence! ...

much as one of my professors said to us eons ago, many people think/react with a bunch of jumbled conditioned reflexes, no analytical processes involved. ... many carry 'hot button' word baggage throughout their lives. Great tools for politicians to use!

[sibelian]

13. "Great tools for politicians to use!" NOOOO fuckin' kiddin'.

Not bad for Internet trolls either...

Everybody bumbles around reacting to what things represent instead of what they are.

[KurtNYC]

16. feeling rather than thinking

it is encouraged by media now.

For example faceBook doesn't have a button that says "I agree" or "I find this to be true." Their button just says "Like." TV news does opinion polls on things that aren't a matter of opinion -- they ask for emotional opinions about things which are facts. Gallop does polls about climate change, they might as well ask "which is larger, 5 or 15?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/05/12/john-oliver-on-climate-change-skeptics-you-dont-need-peoples-opinions-on-a-fact/

[madokie]

2. Some are just born that way

I'm convinced of that. I used to think it was an acquired affliction but I don't think that anymore.

[RKP5637]

4. I also think there is a lot genetic influence ... not speaking of IQ, but

how associations and cognitions are formed ... some seem to be formed in cement, so to say ... despite evidence/facts to the contrary, the impressions stay fixed. ... sometimes that leads to 'stupid thinking' IMO. And sometimes that happens no matter what ones political sense is ...

Such as, "Liberals have more tolerance to uncertainty (bigger anterior cingulate cortex), and conservatives have more sensitivity to fear (bigger right amygdala)." http://2012election.procon.org/sourcefiles/Kanai_Political_Orientations.pdf

[madokie]

5. I have one of those as a neighbor

His is/was formed in the bible. You know the kind, those who pick and choice what to believe. That to me is Stupid

[RKP5637]

7. I had a VP once that I really admired, he was one of the good guys ... one time

I was trying to push a program through the corporate maze, which gets so damn absurd at times ... and he said something like, you know, some people must have constants in their lives, they can't tolerate change, and they cling to these perceived constructs no matter how ridiculous, because it prevents them from going literally insane if they think of all of the possibilities.

[madokie]

11. Thats it

[clydefrand]

6. It seems to me that

the repubs have more than their share of stupid

[Iggo]

8. I don't know, but I do know why they're proud if it.

It's because they're stupid.

[RKP5637]

10. And it really has nothing to do with innate intelligence. I've worked with

Last edited Thu Aug 28, 2014, 10:44 AM - Edit history (1)

some really sharp people, but in the big picture, they were really stupider than a bag of rocks.

They just had beliefs that were really wacky and could not accept even the hint of fallacies in some of their beliefs.

So, the friendly discussion would generally end by them saying to me, "Well, if that's what you want to think!" And they would go off still believing and reinforcing their illogical belief structures, unwilling to change or to even admit there might be a hint of discrepancies in what they were saying and believing, because hard cold facts absolutely proved otherwise. ... basically, flat earth people!

[dangin]

9. The stoopid think they are equal...

Because of "their right to their opinion" and "American exceptionalism" they think their beliefs equal knowledge.

When I debate tea baggers they are always surprised when I demonstrate that, on average, tea partiers lack education.

We should have two years of critical thinking classes in 8th and 10th grade, mandatory.

[RKP5637]

12. We really should have that, "We should have two years of critical thinking classes

in 8th and 10th grade, mandatory."

Way back when I was in school, we actually had something like that ... learning how to be introspective when thinking and not taking things at face value. In 10th grade, for example, we had a course in deceptive advertising ... the teacher used advertising as a tool to show us how to think and not to be mislead by advertising ... and then she applied that to other life situations. She was an excellent teacher.

What I see happening more and more today, is not let me show one how to think critically ... but rather, I will tell you what to think.

[lunasun]

15. Our kids get logic and critical thinking in 7-8 th grade and I could not be more pleased

Essential
This also leads to debate and research experience for HS so it is not just for life mind expansion but has practical application too although it is more a plus to us
But most of all to be aware and have a thought of their own so they will not be so well
Stupid
Some of the subjects they address are quite two sides of the coin and they need to reason why they slant one way or another

[Inkfreak]

14. People are tough to figure out. The minds a crazy thing. (nt)

[lpbk2713]

17. You hit upon the explanation for the very existence of Faux Snooze.

It's a reciprocal arrangement. The one side thrives off the other.

[RKP5637]

18. And they get rich the process!!! If only MSM were used to enlighten than to stupefy. n/t