I AM AFRAID.

"

Anonymous1749704 wrote:

Years ago, internet wasn't connecting us all. It's not that the world become dumber, it's that the stupidity which has existed all a long time is now exposed to everyone. Rewind 200, 300 years back and give that age access to internet; you'll see how people of the "good 'ol days" weren't that much smarter than us after all.

You didn't know some of the negative sides that existed. Now you do.

Oh I get that the internet showcases it more than ever, but we also can't ignore the impact a collective mindset has.

Reminds me of a psychology experiment a professor brought up years ago. I may be getting details wrong, but its the concept that matters.

A bunch of people were told (or paid) to say that a red light was green. One person was not in on it and constantly argued with the rest that the red light was indeed red.

Eventually, that person conceded that the light was green to reach agreement with the group despite knowing full well it was not.

Full disclosure, I have no way to provide links to said study or even verify its existence - it could be complete bullshit out of a professor who just happened to love watching South Park.

Social media shows us that people can be convinced to believe a lie en masse. America's own political system is an example of how fear can be used to convince people that its very own citizens are the enemy.

It's silly to think that "What would Brian Boitano do?" as a guide for life - but it's sad to think about how much better the world would be if everyone lived by that simple mantra.


TLDR - People are getting too comfortable accepting ignorance and stupidity as the norm. Don't just write it off else it become your norm too.

"

Disrupted wrote:

been on the net for almost 18 years, illiteracy was always a thing.
If anything the worst is that the average idiot is extremely common now and will call for censorship everywhere cause they never left their nice neighborhood or never talked to anyone besides their church group and noticing different kinds of people scares them.

Yeah, different people with different opinions exist, some of those opinions are horrible, wow oh my god so scary someone save me AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

[Removed by Support]

This is a response that does scares me.


The title I AM AFRAID in all caps isn't meant to be taken THAT literally. It's meant to generate curiosity, and while I am actually fearful you're doing exactly what all those other posters do - reply with a gut reaction and obligatory insult while completely missing the point of what you're responding to.

You grasp the concept that there has always been a level of ignorance on the web...

But instead of reading far enough to understand why the author would even bother with such a post, you simply assume that it's an exaggerated response from a delusional individual.

In other words, you didn't read between the lines, you didn't make an effort to understand what was actually being said, you simply brushed it off as another rando on the interwebs yelling crazily on a soapbox.

With people finding reasons to hate each other so easily, might there be reason to address how these miscommunications can even come about?

I read between the lines, [Removed by Support]

"

People are getting too comfortable accepting ignorance and stupidity as the norm.

without understanding how it applies to yourself.

Also,

stop

writing

like

this.

You cant call others uneducated while you continually ignore how paragraphs work; [Removed by Support]
My english is terrible and even I acknowledge that.
[Removed by Support]

"

SeCKSEgai wrote:

I remember a government that didn't proclaim immigrants were all criminals.

The actual transcript referred to 'some' of the illegal immigrants coming through the border as being hardened criminals, and the news outlets, blew it up to 'all immigrants'.

Honestly, at this point the lie has been repeated so many times, people think it's true. It's pretty easy for people with a strong bias, to repeat a lie, if it suits them.

Can't blame you for getting that wrong.

Also, you have quite a lot of other inaccuracies in the statement of yours, but I really don't feel like bringing up a fact sheet when it looks like you've made up your mind on it.

fyi, believe whatever you want to believe. It's a free country.

"

CanHasPants wrote:

"

Anonymous1749704 wrote:

Years ago, internet wasn't connecting us all. It's not that the world become dumber, it's that the stupidity which has existed all a long time is now exposed to everyone. Rewind 200, 300 years back and give that age access to internet; you'll see how people of the "good 'ol days" weren't that much smarter than us after all.

You didn't know some of the negative sides that existed. Now you do.

Right start, wrong finish. It’s a problem of unfettered access to nigh infinite information not upheld by conventional standards for review.

SeCKSEgai got it right. The existence of the internet has reduced the quality of information available to that of the National Enquirer.

I find the issue being with the receiver, not the amount of information provided. That said, maybe education system should focus more on improving the ability of critical reading.

"

SeCKSEgai wrote:

"

Anonymous1749704 wrote:

Years ago, internet wasn't connecting us all. It's not that the world become dumber, it's that the stupidity which has existed all a long time is now exposed to everyone. Rewind 200, 300 years back and give that age access to internet; you'll see how people of the "good 'ol days" weren't that much smarter than us after all.

You didn't know some of the negative sides that existed. Now you do.

Oh I get that the internet showcases it more than ever, but we also can't ignore the impact a collective mindset has.

Reminds me of a psychology experiment a professor brought up years ago. I may be getting details wrong, but its the concept that matters.

A bunch of people were told (or paid) to say that a red light was green. One person was not in on it and constantly argued with the rest that the red light was indeed red.

Eventually, that person conceded that the light was green to reach agreement with the group despite knowing full well it was not.

Full disclosure, I have no way to provide links to said study or even verify its existence - it could be complete bullshit out of a professor who just happened to love watching South Park.

Social media shows us that people can be convinced to believe a lie en masse. America's own political system is an example of how fear can be used to convince people that its very own citizens are the enemy.

It's silly to think that "What would Brian Boitano do?" as a guide for life - but it's sad to think about how much better the world would be if everyone lived by that simple mantra.


TLDR - People are getting too comfortable accepting ignorance and stupidity as the norm. Don't just write it off else it become your norm too.

If you argue every single bit of idiocy, you're bound to have a mental breakdown. You gotta learn to pick your fights. Case in point, arguing whether a light is red or green is inconsequential, so you're better off not prolonging such a meaningless argument at the cost of your mental health and just agreeing with the others.

You've heard of this thing called 'religion' right? Social media is some thousands of years late to be considered the primary example of how masses can be convincingly lied to. Religion also shows that ignorance and stupidity is already the norm, whether you like it or not.

Again, these traits you mention have been present for a long time before social media was a thing. All of this isn't new by a long shot, you just haven't realized their existence before.

"

Disrupted wrote:

I read between the lines, [Removed by Support]
"
People are getting too comfortable accepting ignorance and stupidity as the norm.

without understanding how it applies to yourself.

Also,

stop

writing

like

this.

You cant call others uneducated while you continually ignore how paragraphs work; [Removed by Support]
My english is terrible and even I acknowledge that.
[Removed by Support]

[Removed by Support]

If you can criticize what I wrote, why must you critique my criticism with such compounded fervor? Is it no longer possible for us to not take a step back and say I see how you came to that conclusion but I disagree because....

Paragraph - as defined by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary:

1a : a subdivision of a written composition that consists of one or more sentences, deals with one point or gives the words of one speaker, and begins on a new usually indented line The introductory paragraphs were written by the editor.

b : a short composition or note that is complete in one paragraph

2 : a character (such as ¶) used to indicate the beginning of a paragraph and as a reference mark

"

RPGlitch wrote:

"

SeCKSEgai wrote:

I remember a government that didn't proclaim immigrants were all criminals.

The actual transcript referred to 'some' of the illegal immigrants coming through the border as being hardened criminals, and the news outlets, blew it up to 'all immigrants'.

Honestly, at this point the lie has been repeated so many times, people think it's true. It's pretty easy for people with a strong bias, to repeat a lie, if it suits them.

Can't blame you for getting that wrong.

Also, you have quite a lot of other inaccuracies in the statement of yours, but I really don't feel like bringing up a fact sheet when it looks like you've made up your mind on it.

fyi, believe whatever you want to believe. It's a free country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-45942893/trump-and-the-facts-about-the-migrant-caravan

That's neither CNN or Fox.

But here's the thing. Can you imagine Americans forming a caravan to anywhere? What could possibly lead to Americans abandoning their home and everything they know and trek hundreds or even thousands of miles with strangers?

The only thing that even comes close to mind is people gathering for Burning Man, and that's not out of desperation. Those people intend to go back home, eventually.

Why is it that the focus has been political at all?

Why are we as Americans not asking what has gotten so horrible that these people are taking this perilous trek to a country who doesn't appear to want them at all?

Why is it that the dialogue is your stance is either Republican or Democrat? Did we somehow lose the response of Humanity?

America clearly doesn't have the resources to help everyone when we fail even our own combat veterans. Despite that, we still have organizations dedicated to helping those that served us. They may not be able to help everyone, but the effort is made.

It's entirely understandable for a country wanting to deny entrance, that's not a red thing or blue thing just a country thing. But weaponizing an event to capitalize on the fears of your fellow Americans and the party in control allowing said narrative to run unopposed is compliance.

But why is the gut reaction to see a threat? Must we always fear what we don't know? What happened to the US and its humanitarianism. It's like one day we said screw you guys I'm going home and took our ball with us.

"

Anonymous1749704 wrote:

If you argue every single bit of idiocy, you're bound to have a mental breakdown. You gotta learn to pick your fights. Case in point, arguing whether a light is red or green is inconsequential, so you're better off not prolonging such a meaningless argument at the cost of your mental health and just agreeing with the others.

You've heard of this thing called 'religion' right? Social media is some thousands of years late to be considered the primary example of how masses can be convincingly lied to. Religion also shows that ignorance and stupidity is already the norm, whether you like it or not.

Again, these traits you mention have been present for a long time before social media was a thing. All of this isn't new by a long shot, you just haven't realized their existence before.

My point with that study is that under the right circumstances, people will cave to the group even when they know the group is wrong. You're indeed correct that some battles aren't worth fighting - but even in that model you could essentially scale it up.

With the outbursts of racism and hatred that have become more prevalent, it's as if those people who pretended to agree finally felt vindicated and justified in their beliefs.

I wouldn't outright decry religion as a complete farce, but I'd be hard pressed to not also agree that it is the longest standing example of how the masses can be manipulated through belief.

Truth be told, if my adolescence came about during the emergence of facebook and twitter, I too would be far too inclined to respond in a similar fashion, being full of opinions and writing off deaths in the news simply as tragedies elsewhere that could have been worse and otherwise have no impact upon my life.

But, maybe, just maybe I've somehow managed to gain a new appreciation for life between my own brushes with death and the losses of loved ones. Hell, maybe all those people making snap judgements merely remind me of myself.

But here is some food for thought. Why is it that some words put together in an off-topic video game forum manage to instigate such passionate responses from strangers unlikely to ever see each other face to face?

How is it we can grow to develop such hatred between ourselves, strangers with possibly little more than a video game in common?

"

SeCKSEgai wrote:

But why is the gut reaction to see a threat? Must we always fear what we don't know?

Because this wasn't so long ago, in terms of evolution


And

"Our ability to evaluate risk, is a complex mixture of intuitive gut reactions and cognitive/evaluative processes that has evolved for simpler and more immediate sources of danger: saber tooth tigers, marauding invaders and so on. It does not do a very good job of addressing more abstract or delayed sources of danger, which in today’s world probably represent a much more grave source of actual danger. So for example, in 2012, 34,000 people died in automobile accidents. Yet we all drive with hardly any thought of the risk. Few of us lose sleep over the declining ability of antibiotics to keep up with the rapidly evolving bacteria even though the risk of a infectious pandemic capable of killing many millions of people is steadily advancing. We are more concerned with combating terror than in facing the realities of climate change even though the threat of any one individual being hurt by terrorists is almost incalculably small."

"

What happened to the US and its humanitarianism?

I'm pretty sure slaves, native americans, Vietnamese people, Iraquis, homeless people, "witches", and so on, would dispute that as a nation the US was ever humanitarian. Maybe just more of the population are feeling overwhelemed at the level of abstract threat due to technology invading hitherto simple areas?

I have to ask, have you kept tabs and read most of the stuff, or skimmed and responded to latest response?

As you are a poster who consistently contributes from a neutral (at least for PoE standards)stance, I'm legitimately curious.

(And of course, depending on perspective and experience the US has definitely lacked a humanitarian side, but I would bet you knew I knew).