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That people get angry when stupid people on the internet say stupid things politically
Why do people get angry at this? Why don't they treat it as entertainment when you have idiots going at each other attempting to duel with zingers?
Comments
Because politics is serious business, no sarcasm intended, but I can't really elaborate beyond this at the moment.
But these aren't the actual decision-makers themselves. Those people deserve our ire for being stupid. These people, however, are the stupid self-appointed activists who ought to know butter but sadly don't.
It's sometimes rather difficult to find the amusement in someone's stupidity when they hold a position that's frequent enough to concretely harm you. I mean, I want to laugh at Objectivist stupidity for instance, but it's also what's screwing an entire generation out of their livelihood at the moment.
^ They're not the decision-makers, but someone's voting them in.
This. It's not hard to see a tea partier on Facebook ranting about how entitled this generation is and then make a connection from that to Mitt Romney's infamous 47% statement. These things have causes.
Also some people (like myself) simply don't find stupidity entertaining.
While Bee's statements are true, I'd like to add that it feels really good to be the victim.
Because apparently politics actually matter.
Or some shit like that.
Because they invest time in an issue, yet are intellectualy lazy, willfully ignorant and too proud to change their viewpoint when engaged in proper debate. That brand of stupidity is a choice, and these people deserve all the trolling they get for it.
Well, for one, you're probably overestimating how angry people get on the internet, even when they go into allcaps and misspelling mode. Also, all the rest of the stuff that was said and will be said by others, except when it's wrong.
Well, I've had people make enraged death threats to me over voice chat about not winning loot rolls, so...
Though yeah, I imagine most of the internet screaming matches are usually less actual rage and more idiots facerolling incoherently.
Honestly, this mentality bothers me slightly more than the one you're criticizing.
I have to echo Bee's statement here. People like this are (at least in part) the reason why there are horrible decision makers abound.
So how much is it their fault, and how much is it the fault of decision-makers/leaders who pander to or even cultivate this sort of stupidity?
Glenn, if you have an opinion on this subject, you should just say it, instead of trying to be socratic.
Would you say that he's being socratic on purpose, or is it more likely he hasn't really formed a strong opinion and is interested in where we stand on the issue?
I would like to believe it's the latter, but experience has taught me it's usually the former.
Would you say it is wiser to put one's eggs in the basket of hope and faith, or in the basket of realism?
@glennmagusharvey I don't know who's more to blame, since I don't know any extensive studies to refer to on this subject, but they're two interrelated issues, with each feeding into the other, probably.
^ uh, what does that have to do with this...?
He wants to know if he should have omelette for dinner, obviously.
I always thought omelettes were more of a breakfast food.
Nah, they're way too heavy.
I like a light breakfast, big lunch and small dinner.
Was I genuinely interested in the question of whether one should assume good faith in the subjects of this thread topic, or was I being a gadfly in the spirit of that old Greek badger? What came first, the chicken or the omelette? Is a dinner plan not a metaphor for one's political choices: most people want something that's easy to make and don't want to think about it too hard?
No.
I'm wondering if I should scramble this egg (or attempt to make it sunny-side-up and fail) for breakfast.
And I meant that question as an open question. From my own observations, I think there are far more factors outside our control that affect us, than we'd often like to acknowledge, and I put more blame on those in the know for confusing those not in the know, and I blame those holding the strings of social influence more than those at the ends of those strings. For example, I blame policymakers for not helping to engender better primary and secondary education in the United States, and I blame zealous religious leaders for making gigantic fusses about things like evolution. While all individuals can theoretically decide everything for themselves, and do all the necessary research on their own, in reality that process would take far too much time and is practically out of reach for the vast majority of people in our societies. So we have to get our information somewhere...and thus the responsibility lies more with those who disseminate information than with those who consume it.
I'd say while the people who use these minor things as a smokescreen to inflame constituents and garner cheap and blind loyalty are directly at fault, it is up to the rest of us to bother doing a cursory amount of research to know when we're being bullshat -- especially right now when it's rather trivial to obtain most of this information.
This isn't just people being manipulated by all-powerful plutocrats; there's just as much paranoid willful ignorance among the people themselves. And yes, that does make me angry rather than amused, especially when I count several people close to me among them, who I've watched grow more extreme and less receptive to honest debate than they used to be over the last 15 years or so.
I wouldn't describe it as anger, more as a sense of melancholy and woe as stupid things make me sad.
It's similar to the reason I can't enjoy Animal House. In a vacuum, it's a funny movie. Out of it, it just reminds me too much of the Greek system being exactly that much of a goddamned mess, if not more so, because idiots watched it and decided it was an instruction book instead of a parody.