Pro ingnorance society!

[falcon9393]

If you dont have an open mind i suggest you dont read this!

 

i have come across an opinion that seems almost fact to me. It goes something like this; today we live in a society where ignorance is rewarded. its true look around you people who do stupid crazy things are rewarded by applause and everyone likes them. in the olden days those people would have been considered the village idiot. todays society has gone to hell look at kids that fail classes they are usually popular and well liked and for a stupid mistake recieve not punishment but are excussed. im sorry but that seems wrong. and usually the small portion of smart people go unnoticed. now i go to high school so this would all make even more scence if u went to school with these kind of people.

To further look at this theory check out anton Lavey's book Statan Speaks anton lavey is the leader of the satanist church he died in 1997

 

P.S im not a satanist but i enjoy reading occultist material

 

so go on and tell me your opinion on this theory!

[Pangloss]

Perhaps. But, and I mean no offense, you seem to be your own case in point. I don't believe in criticizing use of punctuation and grammar, but since you brought up education standards I feel compelled to point out that you used a pretty low standard in that post -- lower-case letters beginning sentences, the use of "u" instead of "you", skipping inconvenience apostrophes, etc. I don't think they were accidental errors, either, they look like a deliberate choice. Not that there's anything really wrong with that -- we prefer full use of grammar here in general, but it's not a rule -- but as I say you seem to be illustrating your own point. I also don't think it's a language barrier thing -- you seem to understand English perfectly well, you just don't want to waste your time on full words and proper punctuation. See my point?

 

As for the larger issue, we were just talking about this in another thread, and I don't agree that "everything has gone to hell". I think it's just our awareness of issues and human suffering that has changed. Things were worse in the past, we just didn't know about it until much later.

[Phi for All]

I think what we're seeing here is not a paradigm shift in role models, but rather the effects of the paradigm shift in culture brought about by instantaneous media like television and telephony. We have access to a greater amount of entertainment and information.

 

Unfortunately, many of the things that stick in our minds are the absurdest and silliest of what we see and hear. Believe me, when the slackers and the doofi have had their 15 minutes of fame, they'll be back to their exciting careers as protein rotation specialists in the fast food industry. Outside of high school, the smart kids get their reward in better jobs and continued schooling.

 

Stupid isn't rewarded, it's laughed at (sometimes people pay to laugh and stupid gets lucky). Stupid isn't valued, it earns our contempt (sometimes people enjoying venting their contempt and stupid gets more publicity). Stupid isn't excused, it's tallied, in negative points for trust and good judgment. Trust me, outside of high school things will change for stupid.

 

It's always been this way. Every generation claims the upcoming generation has gone to hell. I think we're hearing and seeing and reading more than ever before, so we're exposed to more stupid too.

[swansont]

I think there's some truth to both sides. Certainly instances stupidity or ignorance are often laughed at (e.g. Miss Teen USA wanting to distribute maps) but I think it's also tolerated and in some contexts; willful ignorance is sometimes embraced — people being proud that the don't know certain things.

 

And I don't know how much this comes into play, but stupidity and ignorance aren't the same thing. Ignorance is the lack of knowledge, and you can do something about that. OTOH, to quote Ron White, "You can't fix stupid." You can certainly be smart, and also ignorant in any given area of inquiry, but a smart person is more apt to recognize their ignorance.

 

But the thing is that knowledge in all areas isn't required for success, and you get people spouting off on topics where the know nothing and people listen to them as if they were somehow experts because of their success in other areas. (Bill Mahar talking about "toxins," Jenny McCarthy, Donald Trump and Don Imus on vaccines and autism, to name but a few). These people didn't succeed because of their ignorance, but OTOH I don't see the negative points tallying up very fast, either.

[ecoli]

Stupid is also lucky if it's good looking.

 

Also, I think swansont's point about appeal to authority is important, and potentially dangerous.