Is there evidence of this happening?
The Internet is not breeding a smarter population
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Yes you shouldnât dehumanize people, but those in charge are doing it. And who elected those people?
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Does telling you to stop at a specified sign dehumanize you?
It is fascinating to delve into WHY people believe the things that they do. Honestly is! That is an academic exercise that we have the liberty to indulge in for many topics that donât have an immediate harmful impact to life or property. Flat earthers are a great example of something that does not cause loss of life or property (in most cases). There are a few who have Darwined themselves testing their theories but at least they were the only ones dealing with the consequences of their actions.
The scary part is when it is something that has an immediate impact on the lives of hundreds, or thousands of people. Things like information about natural disasters, weather threats, public health concerns, etc. Things that can result in avoidable deaths.
It is not a simple issue and the internet, and social media, allow false information, rumors, and outright lies to spread likeâŚwildfire. Sometimes the media does publish corrections, but it is at the bottom of a article days later that nobody sees - esp those who most need to see it.
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Itâs removing the decision from me.
I have the information on what could happen if I do or donât. So shouldnât I have the ultimate decision? Without someone telling me what to do?
A huge portion of the populace who felt they were being ignored. It probably has some merit. More information is always better.
Yes when you are used to being treated better than everyone else, being treated equally feels like you are ignored.
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Cool story bro
well, from my 60 years of observation, people are dumb and cruel. a long time ago, they strapped a guy to a tree just for saying âhey. lets be nice to each otherâ, still it happens today, especially on the forums every time they mention the social contract.
I think the addon is called adulthood. It comes built in for most people.
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As long as you also understand that a large portion of people in the US donât have the ability to think critically and analyze that information. They donât have the background knowledge or the willingness to get it.
Sometimes arguing with people who donât want to learn, or canât, is not helpful. It is easier to just ignore them. Sort of like flat earthers. Just because they believe something untrue does not mean that it needs to be legitimized by âpaying attentionâ to them.
Everyone has something of value to offer, but lets not pretend that every person is a doctor or rocket scientist and should be listened to on those subjects. They are free to form their own opinions, but not to have others trust or believe them.
Kind of like that friend who really believes in the healing power of crystals. That is fine, and they are pretty. It is just fine until they convince someone to use crystals instead of getting medical care for an easily corrected issue. When that line is crossed they actually harmed someone else with their âopinionâ. Now, magnify that with the power of the internet and it is not just one person harmed, it is many who buy into half truths, lies, and wishful thinking.
Some people are running on an outdated build and need an update.
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The problem is that thereâs now almost 2 generations online that didnât get hit for saying stupid 
.
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I dunno
Looking at things the older generations say and do. Not sure hitting them helped.
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Facebookkk doesnât count!
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Perfect example of what you FEEL is correct which Mirasol called out as a problem of massive information/disinformation overload.
There is incentive and profit to pumping out misinformation, and misinformation can be produced far faster than facts.
The bot farms being enabled these days are not being set up to produce factual information.
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Comes down to confirmation bias, that we prefer information or interpretation of information that supports our existing world view. Changing our minds is difficult and changing our point of view is vastly more difficult. Thus a complex and nuanced truth will generally be rejected in favor of an easy comprehended falsehood.
I suspect this goes back to prehistory when new information was unusual and folks could comfortably lapse into truisms that generally worked. I think of astrology in this sense, that people generally didnât move great distances, diets were fairly static and lives were generally routine. This would mean all newly pregnant women in June had a different level of nutritional mix than a newly pregnant woman in December. This has a significant effect on the fetus and âcanâ produce discernible differences in children. Since the constellations were the calendar, making generalizations about children born in the time of one ascendant constellation, say Cancer versus Sagittarius born. Now, of course, we are much more mobile and have access to foods year round and the patterns break up and the generalities no longer apply so a decent ârule of thumbâ becomes nonsense.
As always, Iâm a fan of your well thought out and expressed opinions and noble attempts to educate where facts are involved.
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I can decern information quite well. As can many others. I find it funny people saying others should get educated, when their stance is shaky at best. But I will take your opinion into account.
This is true, and also many scenarios in the real world differ depending on your location. Leaving you dog in the back of your car for 45 min while you shop, is not problematic in WA state, It kills your dog in Florida. So people who have lacking information just assume their way is correct everywhere.
Ok, but those people can look to others who have researched it. And those others can argue about whatâs true or not with the correct amounts of information. And then many people also add their morality to a conversation then judge others as âdumbâ for not sharing their morality.