Complexity, reason, emotions and the breaking point... aka F-it

[Az]

Many marvel at the seeming increase in rejection of intellectualism in America. Its almost as if many are embracing ignorance instead of looking to reason and intellectual thought to get us out of our problems. An examination of the last two presidential elections will certainly bare this notion out. A slack jawed incurious illiterate for whatever reasons won the two elections against extremely intelligent and literate individuals. Yes we can complain about how he stole the elections and other issues. But the fact that it was close enough for such machinations to be effective indicates a problem existed anyway.

So why is it that ignorance seems to be occupying a place of reverence in America. To be fair its not exactly ignorance. Its emotionalism. Reason is always struggling to overcome emotions. Our natural predilection is to view things through emotional veils. It takes effort to stop and consider things in a reasoned manner. The more more complex the issue the more difficult it becomes. And as that difficulty increases our inclination to give into our emotions increases along with it. This happens until we hit a point where we can no longer follow all the connections that our reasoning and nuance create. Eventually we feel an overwhelming pressure to just say F-it and go with our emotional response.

There is a limit to what we can internally reason. Each person has their own breaking point. As they get closer to it the ability to stay focused and reasoned becomes increasingly difficult. And there are those out there that are prepared to play upon this aspect of human nature. And there are ways to exacerbate the matter as well.

That is what the right specializes in. They flood the system with all manner of information. The more things thrown into the mix the more complex it becomes. This is why agitents like Ann Coulter and others like her play a vital roll in the rights noise machine. Not only do they increase the disinformation in the field but the raise the emotional levels of those who continue to try to adhere to a reasoned approach. And by going after their emotional buttons they send them over the edge and reduce their ability to reason.

The media furthered this problem with the creation of 24 hour news channels. Instead of delivering concise and informative news on a periodic basis they now flood the system with more noise than information. Instead of having a few important issues to sift through and make sense of we now have sensationalized 24/7 noise. And by not broadcasting issues that may cause their Corporate owners to lose market share or power the media further dulls the value they were once the champions of and have now become the antithesis of.

People overcome with emotions want answers. They don't care about the nuance or the reason behind them. They want certainty. Tjeu want assurance. They want confidence. And that is exactly what con men sell. Confidence. Unfortunately reason does not always come with certainty. The more complex an issue the more room there is for doubt and errors. But it still remains the best way forward. Despite the certainty that others will try to sell. F-it just doesn't work. Despite the difficulty We The People need to buckle down and think things through. And the ability to think things through needs to be returned to a place of respect and social prominence.

[villager]

1. Mike Judge, in the film "Idiocracy," seems to've nailed present day America...

n/t

[JuniperLea]

3. You nailed that one. eom

[unpossibles]

2. I think emotional control is part of it

but not all of it.

I think there has been a systematic attempt to make people distrust intelligence for one very "good" reason: smart subjects are not necessarily well-behaved subjects or easily controlled.

distrust the media: too liberally biased
distrust schools and universities: too liberal
distrust scientists: too liberal - all they want is your money
distrust each other: Us v. them!


Suddenly there's a vacuum of good knowledge, and it gets filled with crap from FOX and Rush and Focus on the Family. People like Rush and Coulter's main purpose, imo, is to legitimatize hate - to make it acceptable for the "good" Americans (ie: the non-liberals apparently) to hate us, to attack us. We on the left have been dehumanized the same way that every military enemy has been - which makes it easier to justify attacks.

I do agree that emotion plays a part, but I'm not sure I see it the same way. I think they get us keyed up with FEAR so that we're willing to do whatever it takes to be "safe." I think FEAR also allows them to separate us into groups and make us distrust each other. Insecurity makes us buy more useless crap to keep the economy chugging along! Global warming! Pshaw! That's nonsense - just buy something and you'll feel better!

[MedleyMisty]

4. Isn't it funny how the lack of replies to this compared to all the flame threads

proves your point?

Fear and hate are emotions, unpossibles.

Have you read Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World? It's like Gore's Assault on Reason, except better because I haven't had to quit reading it yet because I couldn't stomach one more repetition of the phrase "marketplace of ideas". (And yes, I am a Gore supporter. See, it doesn't have to mean "purist", whatever that means - although as far as I can see it means someone with principles and empathy for fellow beings.)

We don't have cable and just use the TV for gaming and watching DVDs, but some of the places we eat out at have TVs tuned to 24 hour sports channels. It's amazing, the boring pointless dreck they'll show to fill time. I can imagine the same sort of thing on the news channels.

I had written lots of stuff about why people are all anti-intelligent people, but then I realized you were really aiming more for anti-intelligence.

I think one part of it is that intelligence is seen as a status thing rather than just another genetic difference. Although actually most of the examples I could think of are genetic differences that are used for status, so whatever - obviously it's a general human species problem.

Anyway, no one wants to be seen as egotistical or as trying to be "better than" other people. Like the other day on a local radio show the hosts and their producer were coming up with answers to the question "What are five things that make you happy?" The produce had actual thought-out answers, as opposed to "new shoes" or something. The hosts were like, "Oh, you're all like, 'I'm better than these people. I don't even know them.' Why are you trying to make us look bad?"

It's like intelligence is associated with class. Which I don't understand because it's been proven that IQ has very little to do with success in life, especially when compared to the financial status of your parents, but hey. I mean, yeah, maybe if two people with different levels of intelligence were both born to rich parents the more intelligent one might make more money, although probably not because three fourths of the gifted population are introverts and it's hard to network and get the big jobs and clients and things if you're not comfortable with a lot of social interaction, but it's not like being highly intelligent is an automatic ticket out if you're born into poverty.

And of course the American education system has been dumbed down all to hell to keep us ignorant.

We're sort of like a self-regulating herd, aren't we? If anyone starts learning too much and getting weird ideas about freedom and equality and truth and stuff, we smack them down ourselves. It's like we're all cows milling around outside of the slaughterhouse and any cow that tries to jump the fence gets pulled back in by the other cows.

The only solution I've been able to come up with so far is to do what you can in your own circle of influence to promote the idea that knowledge and reason and critical analysis are good things and hope it spreads.

[Az]

5. Its the nature of such forums

First yes I have read Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It is my favorite nonfiction book and I believe it should be required reading by everyone.

A major problem with forums such as this is that what gets stuck to the top are contentious ideas. Anything that will pull in argument and disagreement will peg a thread to the top. While ideas that are agreed upon will get a small flury of "agreeds" but will not stay pegged at the top for long because there is little further debate to be had on them.

This doesn't mean that such forums are without merit or always let good ideas go unobserved. Its just that the tendency is to peg the controversies to the top and let the rest slide off the page. Its very much in keeping with human nature. We speak up more to things we disagree about than we do things we agree upon. We notice the good things and internalize them. But we are less likely to speak up about them. Meanwhile an idea we reject or disagree with poses a threat to our world view and we act on it by speaking up and trying to counter it.

[Mike03]

6. I love this post

and it deserves better than a kick and rec, but I need to think about it before forming an intelligent response.

It really hits home though.

[Mike03]

7. Kick

A lot of thought has gone into this post. It deserves consideration.

[saltpoint]

8. If all of you would just pipe down, I could hear DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR.

And tonight's the last night of the rental.

[Evoman]

9. Complexity often provokes strong emotion.

And strong emotion is a veil over our eyes. The more emotional you get, the less able you are to think clearly, and see solutions to predicament.

I've made it a personal task of mine to reduce my emotionality. I've been reading about psychology and emotions for a long time ago. And the less emotional I get, the more I am able to realize how much effect emotions have on my life and decisions. Intelligence is an interesting topic as well...people don't like others who are more intelligent than they are. I myself have managed to admit to myself that I do not like when I meet people who are a lot smarter than I am, although I am conscious of this bias so I try to adjust my thoughts and emotions accordingly.

My general advice to most people is: act dumber than you are. It really makes your life easier. You still have an edge, but it is hidden from the masses.