Anti intellectualism

[DA Baracus]

Seems to be a growing thing.

There are an alarmingly high number of folk who believe utter shit. Worse is that many of those folk think they know better than highly qualified people who have spent years studying their subject.

Some utter morons on Facebook who can't even spell correctly believe that a pishy video they saw online is proof of their terrible nonsense despite the overwhelming overwhelming* evidence that says otherwise.

An ironic thing about these fools is that they all buy in to the same pish and use the same arguments (often word for word) and have the nerve to call others sheep. They're all so alike and are very predictable in their 'arguments'.

They seem to think they're actually more intelligent than most folk. This is probably the biggest appeal of such dickhead movements. They believe that they're in some sort of exclusive club that has managed to somehow figure out a huge conspiracy. 

They ignore masses of evidence against the shite they believe and latch on to a single point that they think proves their garbage but usually does not.

This silly bollocks used to be fairly harmless and was often some daft p***ks crying that the world is flat. However, it's now become dangerous with the anti vaccination scum and, lately, the anti mask morons.

Sadly anti intellectualism seems to be growing. 

[BillyAnchor]

It is now the dominant force in America, my ignorance and stupidity is as important as your knowledge basically.

[Rob1885]

I'm one of these people. My brother (a doctor) has been dishing out the "telts" to me left, right and centre whenever I've questioned the seriousness of Covid at different stages of the pandemic.

[D.A.F.C]

Seems to be a growing thing.
There are an alarmingly high number of folk who believe utter shit. Worse is that many of those folk think they know better than highly qualified people who have spent years studying their subject.
Some utter morons on Facebook who can't even spell correctly believe that a pishy video they saw online is proof of their terrible nonsense despite the overwhelming overwhelming* evidence that says otherwise.
An ironic thing about these fools is that they all buy in to the same pish and use the same arguments (often word for word) and have the nerve to call others sheep. They're all so alike and are very predictable in their 'arguments'.
They seem to think they're actually more intelligent than most folk. This is probably the biggest appeal of such dickhead movements. They believe that they're in some sort of exclusive club that has managed to somehow figure out a huge conspiracy. 
They ignore masses of evidence against the shite they believe and latch on to a single point that they think proves their garbage but usually does not.
This silly bollocks used to be fairly harmless and was often some daft p***ks crying that the world is flat. However, it's now become dangerous with the anti vaccination scum and, lately, the anti mask morons.
Sadly anti intellectualism seems to be growing. 

I think about this a lot now, dont want to keep going on about it but to an extent social media and the Internet has conditioned millions of people down certain ways of thinking.
Watched a recent documentary, dont agree with all of it, but it broke it down and explained how before to be an expert you had to study hard and you were repected for it. Now people just Google things and places like forums and Facebook are full of them. The like system acts like an addictive drug and it divides people and also makes some scared to voice their opinion and talk about intellectual subjects so they don't. Either this or they will troll, fence sit, gang up or get into wild personal attacks and arguements.

Most facebook discussions now are five comments away from racism, hatred, misogyny or a bun fight.

Someone at work today told me they believe that WTC7 was blown up because it hid all the documents. I started laughing as I thought it was a pisstake only to see them not amused.

10 years away from idiocracy imo.

[emoji38]

[coprolite]

It's healthy to question accepted wisdom. 

If people always deferred to suitably qualified professional authority then copernicus wouldn't have told everyone the Earth went round the sun and Bohr wouldn't have insisted on entanglement. 

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people (myself included) are really terrible at realising the limits of their abilities. For most people, a gentle reminder of our own ignorance is enough. 

An ever increasing number of people dig in and double down and i think that's where the issue is: over inflated egos. People can't accept that they are in any way inferior to other people. 

This has led to an end to forelock tugging, place knowing subservience, which is positive. 

It has also led to an end to accepting that we all rely on a vast network of other people's accumulated skills and knowledge to survive. 

[Newbornbairn]

These people have the vote.

 

Should they?

[Forest_Fifer]

It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect. People with only a basic understanding of a subject thinking that they are experts.
Also known as "they're too stupid to realise how stupid they are" syndrome.

[coprolite]

14 minutes ago, Forest_Fifer said:

It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect. People with only a basic understanding of a subject thinking that they are experts.
Also known as "they're too stupid to realise how stupid they are" syndrome.

It's not just stupid people though.  Maybe even people that are quite clever are worse.

I read a number of acedemic economics  blogs where the authors or commentards will make some of the most facile, inane or wrong points about things related to economics, like politics or actual business. Because they are really good at something similar they assume that genius transfers. Sometimes it might but more often it doesn't. 

I wouldn't presume to gainsay any of them on whether interest rates need to rise, but i wouldn't accept their authority when they start yabbering about how that rise will affect the opinion polls. 

[Ralstonite]

1 hour ago, DA Baracus said:

Seems to be a growing thing.

There are an alarmingly high number of folk who believe utter shit. Worse is that many of those folk think they know better than highly qualified people who have spent years studying their subject.

Some utter morons on Facebook who can't even spell correctly believe that a pishy video they saw online is proof of their terrible nonsense despite the overwhelming overwhelming* evidence that says otherwise.

An ironic thing about these fools is that they all buy in to the same pish and use the same arguments (often word for word) and have the nerve to call others sheep. They're all so alike and are very predictable in their 'arguments'.

They seem to think they're actually more intelligent than most folk. This is probably the biggest appeal of such dickhead movements. They believe that they're in some sort of exclusive club that has managed to somehow figure out a huge conspiracy. 

They ignore masses of evidence against the shite they believe and latch on to a single point that they think proves their garbage but usually does not.

This silly bollocks used to be fairly harmless and was often some daft p***ks crying that the world is flat. However, it's now become dangerous with the anti vaccination scum and, lately, the anti mask morons.

Sadly anti intellectualism seems to be growing. 

Whilst at university I took a job as a checkout operator. It was really an eye-opening experience, playing robots for hours on end - pick up item *beep* put down item, pick up item *beep* put down item, etc.

Anyway, I arrived twenty minutes early for my first shift and had some chit chat with my new colleagues. I had just read the Communist Manifesto and, being around actual working class people, I thought I would try to enlighten them about their economic situation vis-a-vis the exploitative capitalist system. I even brought a few SSP leaflets with me, as this was pre-split. I thought I might have been able to get some of them to go out on strike, even. However, all they wanted to talk about was last night's episode of Big Brother! They were stunned into silence when I explained to them how the bourgeoisie were producing this garbage to distract them from the reality of their servitude. Bread and circuses, so to speak. I like to think I opened up their minds, and that some of them may have joined the SSP, but they didn't even know who Karl Marx was!   

After two hours on the checkout, I had to explain to my manager that I was not able to play robots, and whether he could find me something more suited to a man of my intellect, but he said he needed checkout operators. I told him that I was easily amongst the top 5-15% of society, in terms of my intellectual capability, and suggested I'd make a good assistant manager. 

By lunch time I told them all in the canteen, that I actually envied them. I really did...in fact I do envy them even now. It must be nice to live a simple life, without the cogs of my mind constantly whirling around. I'd love to be capable of doing ordinary boring work, like common people. But I was cursed with this great mind. Anyway, I got an interest free loan from my uncle and set up my own business.

Edited September 11, 2020 by Ralstonite

[tamthebam]

There were plenty of arseholes around before the internet. The Sun is 50 years old and the Daily Mail over a century for example. It's just instead of writing letters in green ink to newspapers people just go on twitter.

Sometimes a little learning is indeed a dangerous thing. Everyone knows about the Battle of Britain. Not everyone knows that "The Few" comprised of Polish and Czech pilots as well as British.

[Ralstonite]

1 minute ago, tamthebam said:

There were plenty of arseholes around before the internet. The Sun is 50 years old and the Daily Mail over a century for example. It's just instead of writing letters in green ink to newspapers people just go on twitter.

Sometimes a little learning is indeed a dangerous thing. Everyone knows about the Battle of Britain. Not everyone knows that "The Few" comprised of Polish and Czech pilots as well as British.

Uh oh! Quoting Churchill who was a fascist himself, actually. He believed in eugenics. Look it up. Also what he did to the miners, and what he said about Gandhi was racist. 

Churchill was a racist, jingoistic, alcoholic buffoon, who wanted to "keep England white" and have the working classes die to maintain his idea of "Christian civilisation".  

[tamthebam]

I think you've missed the point.

 

[the tungston weasel]

I think you've missed the point.
 

Nah, that can't be right. he's part of the cleverest 5% in the country.

[Ralstonite]

15 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

I think you've missed the point.

 

Sorry. What was your point? That some of those fine, brave men (one never hears about the sacrifice of women) who were fighting for our wonderful British Empire were Polish? 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Ralstonite

[DA Baracus]

40 minutes ago, Ralstonite said:

Whilst at university I took a job as a checkout operator. It was really an eye-opening experience, playing robots for hours on end - pick up item *beep* put down item, pick up item *beep* put down item, etc.

Anyway, I arrived twenty minutes early for my first shift and had some chit chat with my new colleagues. I had just read the Communist Manifesto and, being around actual working class people, I thought I would try to enlighten them about their economic situation vis-a-vis the exploitative capitalist system. I even brought a few SSP leaflets with me, as this was pre-split. I thought I might have been able to get some of them to go out on strike, even. However, all they wanted to talk about was last night's episode of Big Brother! They were stunned into silence when I explained to them how the bourgeoisie were producing this garbage to distract them from the reality of their servitude. Bread and circuses, so to speak. I like to think I opened up their minds, and that some of them may have joined the SSP, but they didn't even know who Karl Marx was!   

After two hours on the checkout, I had to explain to my manager that I was not able to play robots, and whether he could find me something more suited to a man of my intellect, but he said he needed checkout operators. I told him that I was easily amongst the top 5-15% of society, in terms of my intellectual capability, and suggested I'd make a good assistant manager. 

By lunch time I told them all in the canteen, that I actually envied them. I really did...in fact I do envy them even now. It must be nice to live a simple life, without the cogs of my mind constantly whirling around. I'd love to be capable of doing ordinary boring work, like common people. But I was cursed with this great mind. Anyway, I got an interest free loan from my uncle and set up my own business.

 

26 minutes ago, Ralstonite said:

Uh oh! Quoting Churchill who was a fascist himself, actually. He believed in eugenics. Look it up. Also what he did to the miners, and what he said about Gandhi was racist. 

Churchill was a racist, jingoistic, alcoholic buffoon, who wanted to "keep England white" and have the working classes die to maintain his idea of "Christian civilisation".  

 

8 minutes ago, Ralstonite said:

Sorry. What was your point? That some of those fine, brave men (one never hears about the sacrifice of women) who were fighting for our wonderful British Empire were Polish? 

Please take your boring trolling shit elsewhere you bag of shite.

[NotThePars]

Can't think of who got banned recently for Ralstonite to suddenly return and start posting patter on these threads

[18May1991]

Why do sportscene & sportsound ‘experts’ and analysts’ spring to mind when reading this thread? 

[Shotgun]

I fear this is another USAian import. It was during the Bush II administration I first heard "intellectual" used as an insult. Then in 2008, when John McCain chose the cretin Sarah Palin as his running-mate, the Republican propaganda machine went into overdrive to convince people that intelligence was overrated.

[Newbornbairn]

6 hours ago, Ralstonite said:

Sorry. What was your point? That some of those fine, brave men (one never hears about the sacrifice of women) who were fighting for our wonderful British Empire were Polish? 

Repeat please.

[Empty It]

Can't believe this thread has been up for 8 hours and bigmouth hasn't been in to tell us that we're all wrong yet.