Agreed… however, I find it hard to believe that a person with an education (i.e. a solid base of knowledge) would be as susceptible to stupid ideas as ignorant people are. Maybe this is where the message got muddled for me.
For example, a person with a normal knowledge of science (let’s say European highschool level), should be immune to the notion the Earth is flat… maybe it takes them longer to convince themselves (if they are stupid and as you say, slower to “get there”)
No, you are correct. That’s why I’m not saying that stupidity is the cause of evil actions in society.
I’m just saying that stupid people are less likely to learn good information because they only have so much energy they can put into learning.
And stupid thoughts and stupid conclusions can just as easily crowd out good thoughts and good conclusions as good thoughts and conclusions can crowd out stupid ones.
But stupid thoughts and stupid conclusions are a lot easier than good ones.
For instance, people are still mocking the Dakota pipeline protests. They are saying that it’s stupid because the gas and fuel has to get across those destinations, and you will burn more gas and fuel moving the gas and fuel to those locations without using a pipeline, while they’re overlooking the fact that the objections to the Dakota pipeline was due to not wanting environmental contamination and religious site disruption across native lands.
They are also overlooking that the pipeline protests could have been ended by the oil and fuel companies spending more money to route around native lands that the protesters wanted to protect, and the reason why the protests were violently shut down is that the oil companies did not want to spend the money to meet their requirements or to even do an effective environmental assessment before deploying the pipeline.
They believe themselves to be smart by pointing out the logistical flaw in the objections to the pipeline while overlooking the actual flaw, and so therefore their entire objection is stupid and based off of stupidity.
Agreed… however, I find it hard to believe that a person with an education (i.e. a solid base of knowledge) would be as susceptible to stupid ideas as ignorant people are. Maybe this is where the message got muddled for me.
For example, a person with a normal knowledge of science (let’s say European highschool level), should be immune to the notion the Earth is flat… maybe it takes them longer to convince themselves (if they are stupid and as you say, slower to “get there”)
No, you are correct. That’s why I’m not saying that stupidity is the cause of evil actions in society.
I’m just saying that stupid people are less likely to learn good information because they only have so much energy they can put into learning.
And stupid thoughts and stupid conclusions can just as easily crowd out good thoughts and good conclusions as good thoughts and conclusions can crowd out stupid ones.
But stupid thoughts and stupid conclusions are a lot easier than good ones.
For instance, people are still mocking the Dakota pipeline protests. They are saying that it’s stupid because the gas and fuel has to get across those destinations, and you will burn more gas and fuel moving the gas and fuel to those locations without using a pipeline, while they’re overlooking the fact that the objections to the Dakota pipeline was due to not wanting environmental contamination and religious site disruption across native lands.
They are also overlooking that the pipeline protests could have been ended by the oil and fuel companies spending more money to route around native lands that the protesters wanted to protect, and the reason why the protests were violently shut down is that the oil companies did not want to spend the money to meet their requirements or to even do an effective environmental assessment before deploying the pipeline.
They believe themselves to be smart by pointing out the logistical flaw in the objections to the pipeline while overlooking the actual flaw, and so therefore their entire objection is stupid and based off of stupidity.