I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about anti-vax “wellness” bs over the last few weeks because a colleague is has been in my face about their “beliefs”, and I have a chronic illness whereby common illnesses like colds and influenza can be a big deal for me.
The thing is, it’s all fun and games until it’s not.
For example, my parents are in their 80s and they’re big into alternative therapies. Like they don’t want a covid vaccination but they’ll take a course of ivermectin. They don’t want to take prescribed diabetes medicine but they’ll take Cinnamon or whatever other woo-woo they’ve seen on facebook. However, when they think they might be having a stroke it’s straight up to the emergency department at the hospital for some science based life saving medical intervention. It’s amazing to me that they don’t acknowledge the discrepancy in their behavior.
It’s easy to dismiss mRNA vaccines because of the prevention paradox. Because lock downs and vaccines worked so well, it seems like the underlying problem wasn’t that much of a problem. Sure there are some legit risks with the vaccines but they’re much better than the alternative of an unvaccinated population.
Since covid, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that another pandemic is just around the corner. If something more serious and deadly than covid arises people will be scrambling all over each other to inject anything that purports to reduce the likelihood of infection.
I think it’s pretty common for people to think doctors are great at treating acute conditions (stroke, broken bones, severe illness) but distrust advice on chronic conditions. So this may not be something they see as a discrepancy. And I can kind of see it if I squint - people on lots of medicines are often sick, and people on none healthier, and they may think this causation runs in the opposite direction, that they can magically join the healthy group by not taking medicines.
Your parents are idiots; they make the hypocritical arguments of idiots.
Unfortunately, for several decades in the US, we’ve been culturally conditioned to “respect” others’ beliefs, rather than hold up a mirror to their idiocy.
No more. They’re idiots. If they don’t want scientific solutions, if they want to undermine the work and intellectual efforts required to create a healthy society, then they’re a stone around our necks.
It’s probably a lot more than just one thing, or another.
There are a great many people who simply have no intellectual curiosity. People with zero interest in seeking out and verifying new information, who feel no impetus to figure things out for themselves, or who resent those more knowledgeable than themselves because they see that information asymmetry as a personal attack. People who aren’t curious about anything are idiots.
The issue that you describe- intellectuals treating idiots like idiots, is probably rooted in years, or decades of one-sided conversations, or trying to hold conversations with people who don’t feel the need to argue in good faith. At a certain point, low information people with low curiosity are a burden to engage with, let alone attempt to meet as peers. I’m not saying that’s right, but I can understand it.
For those who retain curiosity, Education and exposure are probably the best way to thwart the rise of idiots, which is probably why public access to high quality information and education resources have been massively curtailed, and/or monetized to the nth degree over the last 40 years. There is a distinct correlation between broad idiocy, and declining quality of life in industrialized nations, and that has certainly been the paradigm in the US.
So, we understand where the idiots are coming from and who benefits from their lack of understanding, we just need the idiots to understand WHO is depending on their remaining useful and WHY they have been denied a path toward bettering themselves. And, of course, the crux of the matter is that idiots cling to their idiocy as an integral aspect of their identity, which means any real changes will have to be long term solutions, wherein children of idiots are allowed to break the cycle leading to better understanding and insight. But there are challenges inherent in that evolution too, as you underscored poignantly; it can be stark and lonesome and heartbreaking for children to realize that their parents are idiots.
Since covid, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that another pandemic is just around the corner
It probably is, we’ve created a perfect environment for COVID and flu like viruses thanks to climate change, airtravel and factory farming. This stuff is only going to be more common if we don’t stop or reduce these things. The future is bright and with bright I mean heatwaves and pandemics
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about anti-vax “wellness” bs over the last few weeks because a colleague is has been in my face about their “beliefs”, and I have a chronic illness whereby common illnesses like colds and influenza can be a big deal for me.
The thing is, it’s all fun and games until it’s not.
For example, my parents are in their 80s and they’re big into alternative therapies. Like they don’t want a covid vaccination but they’ll take a course of ivermectin. They don’t want to take prescribed diabetes medicine but they’ll take Cinnamon or whatever other woo-woo they’ve seen on facebook. However, when they think they might be having a stroke it’s straight up to the emergency department at the hospital for some science based life saving medical intervention. It’s amazing to me that they don’t acknowledge the discrepancy in their behavior.
It’s easy to dismiss mRNA vaccines because of the prevention paradox. Because lock downs and vaccines worked so well, it seems like the underlying problem wasn’t that much of a problem. Sure there are some legit risks with the vaccines but they’re much better than the alternative of an unvaccinated population.
Since covid, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that another pandemic is just around the corner. If something more serious and deadly than covid arises people will be scrambling all over each other to inject anything that purports to reduce the likelihood of infection.
Too many people consuming “alternative facts”. I blame Facebook and Fox News.
I think it’s pretty common for people to think doctors are great at treating acute conditions (stroke, broken bones, severe illness) but distrust advice on chronic conditions. So this may not be something they see as a discrepancy. And I can kind of see it if I squint - people on lots of medicines are often sick, and people on none healthier, and they may think this causation runs in the opposite direction, that they can magically join the healthy group by not taking medicines.
Your parents are idiots; they make the hypocritical arguments of idiots.
Unfortunately, for several decades in the US, we’ve been culturally conditioned to “respect” others’ beliefs, rather than hold up a mirror to their idiocy.
No more. They’re idiots. If they don’t want scientific solutions, if they want to undermine the work and intellectual efforts required to create a healthy society, then they’re a stone around our necks.
Sure ok. I’m not going to defend my parents behavior, but I will point out that this type of thing is probably more prevalent than you think.
When half the world are “idiots” you have to wonder what is supporting that attitude.
It’s anti-intellectualism, which arises from being treated like idiots by intellectuals.
I don’t think we’re conditioned to respect others beliefs, rather we’re conditioned to ignore them provided that they’re not harming others.
It’s probably a lot more than just one thing, or another.
There are a great many people who simply have no intellectual curiosity. People with zero interest in seeking out and verifying new information, who feel no impetus to figure things out for themselves, or who resent those more knowledgeable than themselves because they see that information asymmetry as a personal attack. People who aren’t curious about anything are idiots.
The issue that you describe- intellectuals treating idiots like idiots, is probably rooted in years, or decades of one-sided conversations, or trying to hold conversations with people who don’t feel the need to argue in good faith. At a certain point, low information people with low curiosity are a burden to engage with, let alone attempt to meet as peers. I’m not saying that’s right, but I can understand it.
For those who retain curiosity, Education and exposure are probably the best way to thwart the rise of idiots, which is probably why public access to high quality information and education resources have been massively curtailed, and/or monetized to the nth degree over the last 40 years. There is a distinct correlation between broad idiocy, and declining quality of life in industrialized nations, and that has certainly been the paradigm in the US.
So, we understand where the idiots are coming from and who benefits from their lack of understanding, we just need the idiots to understand WHO is depending on their remaining useful and WHY they have been denied a path toward bettering themselves. And, of course, the crux of the matter is that idiots cling to their idiocy as an integral aspect of their identity, which means any real changes will have to be long term solutions, wherein children of idiots are allowed to break the cycle leading to better understanding and insight. But there are challenges inherent in that evolution too, as you underscored poignantly; it can be stark and lonesome and heartbreaking for children to realize that their parents are idiots.
It probably is, we’ve created a perfect environment for COVID and flu like viruses thanks to climate change, airtravel and factory farming. This stuff is only going to be more common if we don’t stop or reduce these things. The future is bright and with bright I mean heatwaves and pandemics