This morning I heard two political guys on the radio mocking people who have philosophy degrees. It’s not just their ignorance that bothers me, it is their arrogance and belligerence. The real problem is that these guys are just a symptom of a larger disease that is infecting our society. I am not talking about covid-19, I am talking about the problem of toxic stupidity.
In the past four years I have been feeling disgusted by the lack of respect not only for philosophy but for science, for scholarly consensus, for evidence, and for basic and verifiable facts as well as ethical decency. What is mind-boggling to me is that there are people out there who refuse to believe what the scientist and scholars and even reputable non-partisan institutions say, and yet they will believe what some anonymous user on a children’s website (4Chan) tells them.
Unfortunately, there are some very delusional and unscrupulous provocateurs out there who are telling uneducated people what they want to hear, instead of what they need to hear. They appear as respectable adults on the outside, but inwardly they are nothing more than naughty juveniles. Some of them even have violent intentions. It is apparent is that what they are trying to establish is a sociopathic authoritarian state that is fed by ignorance, arrogance, hatred, greed, racism, sexism, misunderstanding and lies. They commit these acts of stupidity while waving an American flag without even understanding anything about history and what the Founding Fathers of America were truly about. What is more is that they do the same thing with Constitution that they do with the Bible: namely, they skip over the parts that they do not like while simultaneously claiming to be the knowledgable upholders of these very traditions. It has become very evident that what they are trying to establish is an outfight Idiocracy.
I have doing my best to stay away from politics here because I want the finding that are presented in my books to appeal to everyone, not just one side; but if one side is going to go off the rails on the crazy train, no matter which side it is, than I am forced to speak my mind.
Deductive reasoning, philosophy, and the scientific method needs to be more prominently taught in the public schools to help prevent this type of toxic stupidity from the polluting minds and spirits of the people―the very same schools that many of these unenlightened barbarians are trying to defund so that their wealthy elite masters don't have to pay any taxes. In this case, we may have to learn educate ourselves and our own children.
Average people need to learn how to do objective fact checking. Indeed, if one were more scholastically and philosophically inclined they may not only be more respectful of the facts but respectful of ethics as well. Let’s start with non-partisan fact check websites that will call out ANYONE who gets it wrong. I recommend https://www.factcheck.org/. Also, https://www.politifact.com/ is not bad either. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend snopes.com. (See previous blog post about them.) We need to fact check and challenge the people who are trying to take over our democracy. We need to ask them to show us the evidence. We need to see if the source is reputable or is it from some anonymous kid in Russia. And if it is not reputable, we must challenge them and hold them accountable and help them to see the error of their ways.
The barbarians are at the gate. Please, do not let them in.
In the past four years I have been feeling disgusted by the lack of respect not only for philosophy but for science, for scholarly consensus, for evidence, and for basic and verifiable facts as well as ethical decency. What is mind-boggling to me is that there are people out there who refuse to believe what the scientist and scholars and even reputable non-partisan institutions say, and yet they will believe what some anonymous user on a children’s website (4Chan) tells them.
Unfortunately, there are some very delusional and unscrupulous provocateurs out there who are telling uneducated people what they want to hear, instead of what they need to hear. They appear as respectable adults on the outside, but inwardly they are nothing more than naughty juveniles. Some of them even have violent intentions. It is apparent is that what they are trying to establish is a sociopathic authoritarian state that is fed by ignorance, arrogance, hatred, greed, racism, sexism, misunderstanding and lies. They commit these acts of stupidity while waving an American flag without even understanding anything about history and what the Founding Fathers of America were truly about. What is more is that they do the same thing with Constitution that they do with the Bible: namely, they skip over the parts that they do not like while simultaneously claiming to be the knowledgable upholders of these very traditions. It has become very evident that what they are trying to establish is an outfight Idiocracy.
I have doing my best to stay away from politics here because I want the finding that are presented in my books to appeal to everyone, not just one side; but if one side is going to go off the rails on the crazy train, no matter which side it is, than I am forced to speak my mind.
Deductive reasoning, philosophy, and the scientific method needs to be more prominently taught in the public schools to help prevent this type of toxic stupidity from the polluting minds and spirits of the people―the very same schools that many of these unenlightened barbarians are trying to defund so that their wealthy elite masters don't have to pay any taxes. In this case, we may have to learn educate ourselves and our own children.
Average people need to learn how to do objective fact checking. Indeed, if one were more scholastically and philosophically inclined they may not only be more respectful of the facts but respectful of ethics as well. Let’s start with non-partisan fact check websites that will call out ANYONE who gets it wrong. I recommend https://www.factcheck.org/. Also, https://www.politifact.com/ is not bad either. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend snopes.com. (See previous blog post about them.) We need to fact check and challenge the people who are trying to take over our democracy. We need to ask them to show us the evidence. We need to see if the source is reputable or is it from some anonymous kid in Russia. And if it is not reputable, we must challenge them and hold them accountable and help them to see the error of their ways.
The barbarians are at the gate. Please, do not let them in.
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