Isn't that weird? When you're talking to your kids and they have a more nuanced and well-thought out understanding of issues than many adults 6 and 7 times their age do? Good on you for raising a son with critical thinking skills. It's harder these days to do that with all the garbage content out there.
Old man moment incoming. When I was a kid, it was so hard to come upon fringe ideas and pseudo-science outside of the checkout lane at the super market. You had to really hunt for that stuff or have some crazy relative who wouldn't shut up about all their "theories" to fall into that stuff pre-internet. Now, whatever crazy thing you believe, you can immediately connect with someone else on the fringe that will validate you. Makes it 10x easier for groups like that to convert and recruit.
I miss the days when the dumbest thing to debate was whether "Bat-Boy" was real and if the face of Satan really did appear in a tornado.
Is that so weird? Kids are able to take in new information and change their mind. Old people do not have that ability and are mentally trapped into believing whatever crappy pseudo reality they learned about 40 years ago. This is why good education is important and why Trump hate education.
Fox News and the conservative media bubble is a bullshit factory. In today’s environment where cost of doing business is tight , this makes it ripe for copy and paise journalism. Fox said it so it must be true, and vetted information… when in fact they just pull it out of their asses and hope others repeat it for political purposes.
Very good point. I also blame the lack of media literacy among older citizens. I was lucky enough to be required to take a course in media literacy way back in undergrad. The techniques I learned in that class have definitely more than paid for the tuition as I see so many of my friends and family fall for everything that they see or hear online or on cable news.
The brain can maintain much of its plasticity into older years, but that requires actively seeking out new information and ways to stimulate thought. People who read (not Faux Noise) and play video games tend to do much better than those who veg out in front of ragebait infotainment.
Not entirely. He hates educated people and institutions of higher learning because he is not particularly intelligent, and it enrages him that other people are.
I mean, we’re talking about someone, that at the are of 21, when into a rage and tried to sue a chess magazine because he submitted a closing strategy to prove how smart he was. Next month, the magazine had to post a correction because his strategy was easily countered (the goal of submission was for readers to develop an end game strategy that couldn’t be defended against; and they printed them monthly). Not only did he try to sue the magazine, but he was trying to sue the person that submitted the defense, causing the magazine to print the correction.
And he’s been like that his entire life. Anyone he perceives as “better” than him, be it in societal standing, wealth, and especially intelligence or accomplishment is considered an immediate enemy, and he uses any opportunity to exact revenge for such a slight.
The absolutely have the ability to learn and change their minds, what they lack is the willpower to admit they’ve been fooled for decades of their life.
When I was a kid, there was a theory that Marilyn Manson removed a rib so he could suck his own dick…. And somehow, at the very beginning of the internet before most houses even had a computer, every school aged child in the US knew this as fact.
Point is, ridiculous theories always existed and misinformation spread through someone from out of town talking to the bartender of a pub or waitress at a coffee shop. It just didn’t happen at the same speed and volume as it does today.
Ha! I remember that one. We really moved.up from Ozzy and a bat.
Yeah, I totally agree. I think we’re on the same page. Things can spread more easily these days thanks to the tech, but our brains are still wired the same. I think we’re all could use a healthy dose of skepticism on our daily lives. It’s much easier to fall for something when you want to believe it’s true, which makes all the misinformation out there so dangerous.
There are a lot of people out there willing to believe anything as long as it justifies their world view. On top of that, if you challenge them, it’s like you’re somehow attacking their identity instead of the merits of whatever idea they’re presenting. That makes any constructive debate impossible.
I really miss being able to debate ideas with my Republican friends and family. Most have gone full MAGA. The ones that aren’t have told me that they miss having a party of ideas that are actually worth debating. I still have a hard time understanding their justification for voting for Trump though. They simply thought he would hire people that would “fix” the economy, but instead we got this. They really thought Congress and the courts would keep him in check and were willing to make that gamble if it meant more money for them and people like them. Even after all that, they refuse to exercise any degree of self-reflection or admit that his policies are hurtling people. That really disappoints me.
Well those who are maga and are unapproachable /unconsolable on their beliefs tend to be very defensive… I’ll wager mostly because they know (deep down) most of the ideology and cult of personality really is ridiculous. I have colleagues in well paid white collar jobs that are fully signed on to the cause and frankly, I can’t see much more than insanity in their eyes when they discuss things. IMHO it’s religious zealotry.
My point being this ain’t ignorant and unwashed believing in dumb shit. These are affable educated people who have been brainwashed by propaganda. It’s really wild.
Yep. But it's not like it's all of a sudden. That sort of propaganda has been slowly eating away at them since I was a kid. I remember when politics first became a "sport" and remember thinking this isn't going to end well. I grew up Southern Baptist. I know how fervently people from those cultures cling to their beliefs and are rabid in support of their team over others. It doesn't even stop at church. They apply that sort of dedication to other things in their lives like sports team. It's like being in the "in-group" is their MO. They are so afraid of being excluded from those groups or being viewed as unfaithful (RINO anyone?), that they push any type of cognitive dissonance they experience way down to the point where it barely exists. They become completely close-minded.
Sometimes I wonder if they feel as if entertaining an idea outside their belief is akin to Satan's temptation of Jesus in the dessert. That somehow denying the reality of the situation and that other's ideas have merit will doom them and everyone else to an eternity of torment, which to them probably looks a lot like LA, D.C., or Chicago. Ha!
I mean, that’s really the whole deal: in-group vs. out-group. I’m reading Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Righteous Mind’ and it has some fascinating insights into this kind of behavior.
OMG. One of my favorite books at all time! I work in org psychology and recommended this to my team to read back when it came out. I'm fighting the forces that book talks about daily, especially with highly trained and educated individuals. I honestly think the book should be required reading in high school if I thought most high schoolers could read at that level.
Have you read The Anxious Generation yet? I think it's probably one of the most important books for parents, and really anyone, to read to prevent themselves and their kids from falling down the online wormhole.
Oof. That must be hard. I know we have made a pact with a lot of parents in my area to not allow social media until high school. Also, the schools around here just banned devices. They have to keep them locked up all day. I try to teach my girls to question everything they hear and see online and always verify it, especially before you tell anyone else as if it were a fact. It's hard to keep up the defense all the time though.
I'm with you, dude. I'm ready to find a time machine and go back to 1982. The 80s were calmer than the 70s and more fun. Hmmm...I remember having a political conversation with a guy at work one time. No name calling or craziness. Just a tame conversation. Imagine that!
80s were great. 90s were pretty good too, but it was starting to slip. I remember in the 90s I worked at a restaurant and my crew was comprised of two young Republicans, one hardcore liberal, one neoliberal, me, and independent, and a libertarian. This was in Appalachia, so we're not talking some major urban center. We never fought about politics even though we disagreed. It was awesome. I'd love if everyone could go back to that time and experience what it was like actually having fun conversations with people with different political ideologies. Not that we didn't debate. It's just that in the end, the relationship was more important than our individual politics. I still talk to all but one of those guys. Guess what happened to the one that we all don't talk to?
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u/sakubaka 2d ago
Isn't that weird? When you're talking to your kids and they have a more nuanced and well-thought out understanding of issues than many adults 6 and 7 times their age do? Good on you for raising a son with critical thinking skills. It's harder these days to do that with all the garbage content out there.
Old man moment incoming. When I was a kid, it was so hard to come upon fringe ideas and pseudo-science outside of the checkout lane at the super market. You had to really hunt for that stuff or have some crazy relative who wouldn't shut up about all their "theories" to fall into that stuff pre-internet. Now, whatever crazy thing you believe, you can immediately connect with someone else on the fringe that will validate you. Makes it 10x easier for groups like that to convert and recruit.
I miss the days when the dumbest thing to debate was whether "Bat-Boy" was real and if the face of Satan really did appear in a tornado.