9 ms·

Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)

151 points by kick 7y ago

teilo 7y ago
Why is this called a "cargo cult"? Whatever the merit of these observations, this is not what a cargo cult is.
- CrazyStat 7y ago
  """ Emulate the purported behavior of successful people This is the key to the cargo cult. To enjoy the success of another, just mimic his rituals. """
- crusty 7y ago
  Because Trumpism wasn't in the vernacular when it was compiled.
darkengine 7y ago
Maybe I'm missing some nuance here, but most of these (excepting maybe "Complicated explanations are suspect" and "All interconnection is apparent") just seem like different manifestations of fundamental attribution error.
- H8crilA 7y ago
  At least those do not seem to be: > There is no long term > Certainty is strength, doubt is weakness > Emulate the purported behavior of successful people > The end supports the explanation of the means But you're right in that it can be explained by fundamental attribution error in some part. It's still more understandable when the quite broad cognitive error (it's called fundamental for a reason!) is instantiated to some common manifestations.
- catalogia 7y ago
  It reads like a list of fairly reasonable (imho) grievances, but except for a few they don't really seem related to the cargo cult phenomenon. Namely these two do seem related to cargo cults: "The end supports the explanation of the means: A successful person's explanation of the means of his success is highly credible by the very fact of his success." "Emulate the purported behavior of successful people: This is the key to the cargo cult. To enjoy the success of another, just mimic his rituals." But for instance, this one: "Good intentions suffice: You can always apologize." How is a culture of casual forgiveness related to cargo cults? That sounds like a Protestant approach to the topic of forgiveness, and insofar as Protestantism has been influential in America that approach to forgiveness probably does accurately generalize the American public. But where is the cargo cult angle?
  - rantwasp 7y ago
    the way i read is it that we have the American Cargo Cult and these are some principles that help explain what it is. E.g. "Good intentions suffice: You can always apologize." When you see everyone just apologizing you internalize that just having good intentions suffice without understanding why this may be the case.
  - f_nachos 7y ago
    Because it's magical thinking to believe that the harm caused by the consequences of your actions is ameliorated by your intentions beforehand or your apology afterward. A civilization built on Protestantism wouldn't be less superstitious for holding these as cultural values. Which is where I guess the cult part comes in.
    - catalogia 7y ago
      It may well be magical thinking, but magical thinking isn't synonymous with cargo cults. Cargo cults seem like a particular sort of magical thinking; a subset of magical thinking. As I understand the concept, a cargo cult is specifically characterized by one group of people superficially emulating another without understanding the underlying mechanisms in play. If the Protestant approach to forgiveness is relating to cargo cults, perhaps it's because they witnessed Catholics talk about forgiveness and decided to adopt that aspect of the Catholic philosophy without also appreciating the importance of the Catholic concept of penance (Catholics talk about forgiveness a lot, but don't give so freely as Protestants.) So perhaps Protestants are cargo culting Catholics. I know a few Catholics who'd probably smirk in agreement with the above, but I'm not convinced of it myself. I'm neither a Protestant nor a Catholic and although I was raised as one and grew up surrounded by the other, I never felt I understood either particularly well. So it's possible I've gotten it all wrong.
  - Tehdasi 7y ago
    Same way as 'French fries': 1) are not french 2) are not fried 3) have to be made of potato 4) are not 'frenched' 5) etc The author was prolly just picking a name that the mentality was most like.
- tasty_freeze 7y ago
  Even if they can all be reduced one one generic complaint, seeing the specific manifestations of is spelled out is quite helpful. In the same way, we teach students the derived results of mathematics, instead of just telling them the axioms and assume they can figure out the consequences themselves.
AgentOrange1234 7y ago
Such a terrible experience on mobile. Sigh. WTB a new Internet where only ten html tags are allowed.
- kemitchell 7y ago
  https://readerstyle.com/ https://readerstyle.com/
- jiofih 7y ago
  Is it? I find a raw page like this better for pure reading than the majority of “well designed” websites, and reader mode works wonderfully.
  - AgentOrange1234 7y ago
    Here is my experience: The text is tiny and I cannot double-tap to zoom into the article. When I use “reader view” the article disappears except for the donation section. When I rotate my phone to try to be able to read the text by making it bigger, a bar at the top eats a chunk of the page at all times and cannot be closed. A plain vanilla raw page is exactly what I’m wishing for.
    - shiftless 7y ago
      Here's a nickel, kid. Buy a real computer.
- mylons 7y ago
  worked great on my ios device
  - CrazyStat 7y ago
    Perfectly fine on my Android device as well.
jeremya 7y ago
I found this very helpful. It gives clear language for a number of things I’ve thought and felt about public discourse in America. To name a few in particular, the belief that complicated explanations are suspect and that certainty is strength. I’ve repeatedly observed that successful people seem to have very strong opinions and wondered if that was a contributor to their success. While it seems most things in this list stem from one or more logical / informal fallacies, the way the principles are categorized and described makes the fallacy obvious and, for me, familiar. Since 2003 when this was published, I believe the network effects of social media have significantly increased the frequency at which these sorts of fallacies are uttered. What are the systems at work here that lead to this so-called cargo cult? Is it easier, psychologically speaking for people, and Americans in particular, to walk with these mental crutches? Is our education system broken? What variables are at play here?
- Jupe 7y ago
  I too see this pattern over-and-over. I think there are some root causes (but I don't to have given this a ton of thought... but...): 1. Many people are confronted with the model at work. The busy-ness and complications of the real world make simplifications appealing, and backed by a successful, charismatic person with clarity of vision, well spoken, makes for an easier "sales pitch", and easier to "get behind" Example: H. Ross Perot (a presidential candidate of a couple decades ago who advocated economic nationalism) was about as business-minded as Donald Trump. Perot was known for showing bar graphs and line charts during his speeches. People literally laughed at him. Trump, appealing to peoples righteous self-import and "American Greatness" was applauded. 2. There is a "marketing mindset" in America. People speak with a hint of respect when meeting or hearing of someone who could "sell an ice cube to an Eskimo." To me, an image of a slime-ball used car salesman comes to mind, but for some reason, others see this as a "respectful" skill. Salespeople are seen as "skillful" in eluding the normal track of school/eduction, hard-work, hard-thought, and the like, but they are still "successful". 3. Many American successes were "simple" in nature: Henry Ford's assembly line is a good example. Washing machines, electric refrigerators; most of the "big box" items that came out of the American Industrial Revolution are other examples. I'd bet money that, since Albert Einstein moved to the United States later in life, many Americans believe (incorrectly) that his famous simplification of E=mc^2 was only possible because of America. Tell Americans that the Arabs invented algebra, the number zero and much more, and rather than increase their respect for the culture and people, they'll simply reinforce their stupidity and their own lack of interest in such subjects. 4. I think academia suffers from this as well. Mathematicians and physicists always go on talking about "simplicity" and "beauty" as if their job is to deduce the simplicity of the universe.
stoopidmurcan 7y ago
This is stupid to the point of borderline racism. An uncharitable reading of inane journalism ascribed to an entire nationality. Fuck you very much too.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
freetime2 7y ago
> I wrote these principles after reflecting on the content of contemporary newspapers and broadcast media and why that content disquieted me. I agree that the principles listed are highly present in American media, especially during an election year. However: > I really think that most Americans believe these things at a deep level. I don't think most Americans "believe" these things, so much as these are just typical human cognitive biases that Americans succumb to. If you were to ask most Americans whether they agreed with these statements, they would say "no". But come election time those same people who answered "no" would probably go and vote for a candidate who exhibited these principles. Or given the choice to save money for the future or buy some junk on Black Friday, they would probably choose the junk.
sowbug 7y ago
Tragedy is a synonym for calamity It took me a little while to figure this one out, since I've always treated the two words as synonyms (non-ironically, I hope). In case anyone else also paused at this one, a tragedy is something horrible happening because of a weakness in someone's character, whereas a calamity is just something horrible happening. The point of the principle is that victims* of the American cargo cult treat every tragedy (blame or causality) as a calamity (no blame or causality), thus losing the opportunity to reflect on their own potential responsibility. *term used ironically, I hope
- catalogia 7y ago
  That seems like an anachronistic meaning of the word tragedy. In the context of dramatic productions, a tragedy does indeed imply a flaw or weakness in character leading to some unpleasant outcome. But I don't think that implication is generally present when using the word in other contexts. I doubt many if any modern Europeans or Americans would find fault with the statement, "It's a tragedy when women die during child birth." Where the implication of a personal flaw present in that statement, it would be a deeply offensive statement. But in practice I think that's an agreeable statement. It could be the case that Americans have a bias towards seeing calamity instead of tragedy (that rings true in my opinion), but I don't think that bias is evidenced in you or other modern English speakers treating the two words as synonyms.
  - sowbug 7y ago
    I agree, and will surely keep using the anodyne sense of "tragedy" in my day-to-day chit-chat about calamities. Your "bias toward seeing calamity instead of tragedy" phrasing might be a better way to put it, because it contrasts the two words without suggesting widespread misuse.
    - ehnto 7y ago
      It wouldn't have to be widespread misuse. It's not impossible that the author meant it in the way the grandparent comment wrote it, even while understanding that's not how most use it. They show an interest in using language more adventurously throughout the piece.
JCharante 7y ago
This is scarily accurate, thanks for sharing kick.
- kick 7y ago
  You're welcome! Always happy to share!
shdjdbxnx 7y ago
To some extent I have all of those. To a lesser extent, I believe we all have those, even my thoughtful non-American friends. Some of those flaws might be more characteristic I some people than in other peoples. So why call it “American” cargo cult? The only uniquely American aspect is that our inability to rise above these flaws is destroying the country. (I’m actually not American. I’ve just lived in the US for over a decade)
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  I think the author isn't doing any kind of comparison between Americans and other people - it's just that his focus is entirely on his own country and culture, so he calls this an American problem. I.e., it is a problem in America - but might as well be a problem everywhere else too.
d-d 7y ago
I can't say I agree with most of these points, but > Certainty is strength > [and survivorship bias] This I have definitely seen and experienced. Back when I thought I knew everything some people followed me and copied what I did. I unwittingly became a leader simply by being arrogant. Now that I have a little wisdom that's all out the window. Confidence is magnetic even if its foundations are nonsense. I think the mechanism is similar to clickbait but maybe less intentional.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Yes, the phenomenon is true, but the point of the article is that it's a problem, and leads to bad outcomes. In your example, you've "became a leader simply by being arrogant". Were you, in your arrogance, to make a mistake, wouldn't your followers walk right into it and suffer the consequences?
JackPoach 7y ago
This is great. And not uniquely American.
dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago
> Emulate the purported behavior of successful people This one is very obvious and appears everywhere. People are fascinated by Jobs and the like, some even go as far as trating their employees like he did, considering this is one of the critical factors of his success.
aklemm 7y ago
How does this compare to non-American media and culture? Is it simply a human problem?
shiftless 7y ago
What it boils down to is honesty, or dishonesty. Have you ever heard the expression, "you can't cheat an honest man?" It's true, in that a truly honest man won't sign up for whatever get-rich-quick scam of the day you're pushing, because honest men know that there's no free lunch or easy ride. The sad truth is the vast majority of Americans are fundamentally dishonest people. The fact that they won't admit it, and will argue vociferously against it, is part of their dishonesty. And how could it be otherwise, when the entire so-called 'leadership' of this nation is fundamentally crooked and dishonest itself, and has been for over a hundred years, since long before the great grandparents of anyone commenting here were even born? This article is dead accurate, and its observations apply even and especially here, on this site of learned intellectuals. You see it particularly on Slashdot though, where there are certain loud mouthed regulars there, who despite perhaps knowing quite a bit about their individual niche, sometimes expose themselves as total fools in larger discussions about politics and such, getting sucked into the same R vs D, red vs blue, or whatever other 'bread and circuses' B.S. the rest of the serfs are so mesmerized by. Really, 'mesmerized' is the key word. All of this stuff is the work of pro propagandists. The book "Propaganda", published in the 1930s, is the seminal work on this subject, and quite enlightening to read, in light of everything in the U.S. media today especially, which is all lies. Attempts to bring victims of this system of lies to real, hard-won, life-saving knowledge are of course met with all the same rationalizations, equivocations, extreme skepticism, dodge tactics, etc as would be encountered in the typical 'trailer park' setting (to name an easy target), only at a much more higher and refined level. No qualitative difference exists; it's the exact same thing, at a different level of refinement; the same total lack of awareness of one's own lack of knowledge, and apparent inability to even believe that one could even be incorrect. I've heard the opinion that human brains are essentially the same as they were 40,000 years ago. It seems that's true. I can just imagine that if you took all of these people, wiped their memories, then put them in a cave banging rocks together with new fake memories of it all being normal, just "The Walking Dead" living in a cave somewhere and battling against other caves, most folks would love that life and be happier than a pig in shit. Probably more so than they are today, having to deal with all this magical and scary technology. Even the tech people. They would just get into scroll making or rock carving or invent IP over smoke signal/carrier pidgeon/giraffe or something, and be perfectly happy. It reminds me actually of some people who live in jails. Did you know that some frequenters of jails and prisons actually like that lifestyle? You and I think of it as a horrid place, but to them it's HOME. Imagine that. And look where you are, right now. Any Silicon Valley dwellers here? Is that home to you? Put yourself in the shoes of a typical, average person. Not a 140+ IQ rockstar C programmer. Not a 110 IQ typical Python programmer. (Haha.) I mean the 98 IQ guy who couldn't write 'Hello World' in BASIC to save his life, if aliens were attacking and he was the last hope for man. All of this stuff we're doing on a daily basis seems magical and extraordinary and totally unreachable to him. How can he possibly understand this world, and make wise decisions, when even a tech elitist, the cream of the society, sometimes feels overwhelmed? How can he understand the world, when he has been raised FROM BIRTH to NOT understand it, by people much more intelligent, learned, and EVIL than most? If you asked the fool if he wants to be lied to by a slick guy in a suit, he'll say no, but if you put the two of them together, he ends up buying the jalopy, or the $60k pickup he can't afford. Why? One is a predator in a position of power over the other, and the entire society is oriented to tricking and deceiving him, and has been arguably from day one. He has been literally bred to be an idiot, like so many others, then in his life trained and rewarded for stupidity and punished for intelligent thought. How can he be anything else? Do you think "Brave New World" was really fiction?? How about the Georgia Guidestones? You think the people running the world really have our collective best future in mind, given the evidence, and given what they have created this society to be? How can a learned person, having learned the truth of all this, make progress in spreading education, in an environment where everything is tilted toward anti-intellectualism and stupid "tin foil hat" jokes, by design, because that's what the dark evil masters pulling the strings in the background desire, for sinister reasons? The word 'sinister', by the way, implies left handed. There's a lesson there, for those who study details. Sorry to go all "In the Beginning There Was the Command Line" on you here..I'm rambling.. I'll close by saying I think the Balkanization of society, everyone being split into all these little niche 'specialties', has contributed greatly to the general ignorance of society. It could be there is much to be learned from the example of the old farmer running a homestead with every art and craft being practiced, and to a high level of skill. Actually, I heard so many computer programmers these days are quitting to move into the hills and become farmers, that it's become something of a meme. Could be something to be learned by studying that trend, also.

151 points by kick 7y ago

teilo 7y ago

Why is this called a "cargo cult"? Whatever the merit of these observations, this is not what a cargo cult is.

CrazyStat 7y ago
""" Emulate the purported behavior of successful people This is the key to the cargo cult. To enjoy the success of another, just mimic his rituals. """
crusty 7y ago
Because Trumpism wasn't in the vernacular when it was compiled.

darkengine 7y ago

Maybe I'm missing some nuance here, but most of these (excepting maybe "Complicated explanations are suspect" and "All interconnection is apparent") just seem like different manifestations of fundamental attribution error.

H8crilA 7y ago
At least those do not seem to be: > There is no long term > Certainty is strength, doubt is weakness > Emulate the purported behavior of successful people > The end supports the explanation of the means But you're right in that it can be explained by fundamental attribution error in some part. It's still more understandable when the quite broad cognitive error (it's called fundamental for a reason!) is instantiated to some common manifestations.
catalogia 7y ago
It reads like a list of fairly reasonable (imho) grievances, but except for a few they don't really seem related to the cargo cult phenomenon. Namely these two do seem related to cargo cults: "The end supports the explanation of the means: A successful person's explanation of the means of his success is highly credible by the very fact of his success." "Emulate the purported behavior of successful people: This is the key to the cargo cult. To enjoy the success of another, just mimic his rituals." But for instance, this one: "Good intentions suffice: You can always apologize." How is a culture of casual forgiveness related to cargo cults? That sounds like a Protestant approach to the topic of forgiveness, and insofar as Protestantism has been influential in America that approach to forgiveness probably does accurately generalize the American public. But where is the cargo cult angle?
- rantwasp 7y ago
  the way i read is it that we have the American Cargo Cult and these are some principles that help explain what it is. E.g. "Good intentions suffice: You can always apologize." When you see everyone just apologizing you internalize that just having good intentions suffice without understanding why this may be the case.
- f_nachos 7y ago
  Because it's magical thinking to believe that the harm caused by the consequences of your actions is ameliorated by your intentions beforehand or your apology afterward. A civilization built on Protestantism wouldn't be less superstitious for holding these as cultural values. Which is where I guess the cult part comes in.
  - catalogia 7y ago
    It may well be magical thinking, but magical thinking isn't synonymous with cargo cults. Cargo cults seem like a particular sort of magical thinking; a subset of magical thinking. As I understand the concept, a cargo cult is specifically characterized by one group of people superficially emulating another without understanding the underlying mechanisms in play. If the Protestant approach to forgiveness is relating to cargo cults, perhaps it's because they witnessed Catholics talk about forgiveness and decided to adopt that aspect of the Catholic philosophy without also appreciating the importance of the Catholic concept of penance (Catholics talk about forgiveness a lot, but don't give so freely as Protestants.) So perhaps Protestants are cargo culting Catholics. I know a few Catholics who'd probably smirk in agreement with the above, but I'm not convinced of it myself. I'm neither a Protestant nor a Catholic and although I was raised as one and grew up surrounded by the other, I never felt I understood either particularly well. So it's possible I've gotten it all wrong.
- Tehdasi 7y ago
  Same way as 'French fries': 1) are not french 2) are not fried 3) have to be made of potato 4) are not 'frenched' 5) etc The author was prolly just picking a name that the mentality was most like.
tasty_freeze 7y ago
Even if they can all be reduced one one generic complaint, seeing the specific manifestations of is spelled out is quite helpful. In the same way, we teach students the derived results of mathematics, instead of just telling them the axioms and assume they can figure out the consequences themselves.

AgentOrange1234 7y ago

Such a terrible experience on mobile. Sigh. WTB a new Internet where only ten html tags are allowed.

kemitchell 7y ago
https://readerstyle.com/ https://readerstyle.com/
jiofih 7y ago
Is it? I find a raw page like this better for pure reading than the majority of “well designed” websites, and reader mode works wonderfully.
- AgentOrange1234 7y ago
  Here is my experience: The text is tiny and I cannot double-tap to zoom into the article. When I use “reader view” the article disappears except for the donation section. When I rotate my phone to try to be able to read the text by making it bigger, a bar at the top eats a chunk of the page at all times and cannot be closed. A plain vanilla raw page is exactly what I’m wishing for.
  - shiftless 7y ago
    Here's a nickel, kid. Buy a real computer.
mylons 7y ago
worked great on my ios device
- CrazyStat 7y ago
  Perfectly fine on my Android device as well.

jeremya 7y ago

I found this very helpful. It gives clear language for a number of things I’ve thought and felt about public discourse in America. To name a few in particular, the belief that complicated explanations are suspect and that certainty is strength. I’ve repeatedly observed that successful people seem to have very strong opinions and wondered if that was a contributor to their success. While it seems most things in this list stem from one or more logical / informal fallacies, the way the principles are categorized and described makes the fallacy obvious and, for me, familiar. Since 2003 when this was published, I believe the network effects of social media have significantly increased the frequency at which these sorts of fallacies are uttered. What are the systems at work here that lead to this so-called cargo cult? Is it easier, psychologically speaking for people, and Americans in particular, to walk with these mental crutches? Is our education system broken? What variables are at play here?

Jupe 7y ago
I too see this pattern over-and-over. I think there are some root causes (but I don't to have given this a ton of thought... but...): 1. Many people are confronted with the model at work. The busy-ness and complications of the real world make simplifications appealing, and backed by a successful, charismatic person with clarity of vision, well spoken, makes for an easier "sales pitch", and easier to "get behind" Example: H. Ross Perot (a presidential candidate of a couple decades ago who advocated economic nationalism) was about as business-minded as Donald Trump. Perot was known for showing bar graphs and line charts during his speeches. People literally laughed at him. Trump, appealing to peoples righteous self-import and "American Greatness" was applauded. 2. There is a "marketing mindset" in America. People speak with a hint of respect when meeting or hearing of someone who could "sell an ice cube to an Eskimo." To me, an image of a slime-ball used car salesman comes to mind, but for some reason, others see this as a "respectful" skill. Salespeople are seen as "skillful" in eluding the normal track of school/eduction, hard-work, hard-thought, and the like, but they are still "successful". 3. Many American successes were "simple" in nature: Henry Ford's assembly line is a good example. Washing machines, electric refrigerators; most of the "big box" items that came out of the American Industrial Revolution are other examples. I'd bet money that, since Albert Einstein moved to the United States later in life, many Americans believe (incorrectly) that his famous simplification of E=mc^2 was only possible because of America. Tell Americans that the Arabs invented algebra, the number zero and much more, and rather than increase their respect for the culture and people, they'll simply reinforce their stupidity and their own lack of interest in such subjects. 4. I think academia suffers from this as well. Mathematicians and physicists always go on talking about "simplicity" and "beauty" as if their job is to deduce the simplicity of the universe.

stoopidmurcan 7y ago

This is stupid to the point of borderline racism. An uncharitable reading of inane journalism ascribed to an entire nationality. Fuck you very much too.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

freetime2 7y ago

> I wrote these principles after reflecting on the content of contemporary newspapers and broadcast media and why that content disquieted me. I agree that the principles listed are highly present in American media, especially during an election year. However: > I really think that most Americans believe these things at a deep level. I don't think most Americans "believe" these things, so much as these are just typical human cognitive biases that Americans succumb to. If you were to ask most Americans whether they agreed with these statements, they would say "no". But come election time those same people who answered "no" would probably go and vote for a candidate who exhibited these principles. Or given the choice to save money for the future or buy some junk on Black Friday, they would probably choose the junk.

sowbug 7y ago

Tragedy is a synonym for calamity It took me a little while to figure this one out, since I've always treated the two words as synonyms (non-ironically, I hope). In case anyone else also paused at this one, a tragedy is something horrible happening because of a weakness in someone's character, whereas a calamity is just something horrible happening. The point of the principle is that victims* of the American cargo cult treat every tragedy (blame or causality) as a calamity (no blame or causality), thus losing the opportunity to reflect on their own potential responsibility. *term used ironically, I hope

catalogia 7y ago
That seems like an anachronistic meaning of the word tragedy. In the context of dramatic productions, a tragedy does indeed imply a flaw or weakness in character leading to some unpleasant outcome. But I don't think that implication is generally present when using the word in other contexts. I doubt many if any modern Europeans or Americans would find fault with the statement, "It's a tragedy when women die during child birth." Where the implication of a personal flaw present in that statement, it would be a deeply offensive statement. But in practice I think that's an agreeable statement. It could be the case that Americans have a bias towards seeing calamity instead of tragedy (that rings true in my opinion), but I don't think that bias is evidenced in you or other modern English speakers treating the two words as synonyms.
- sowbug 7y ago
  I agree, and will surely keep using the anodyne sense of "tragedy" in my day-to-day chit-chat about calamities. Your "bias toward seeing calamity instead of tragedy" phrasing might be a better way to put it, because it contrasts the two words without suggesting widespread misuse.
  - ehnto 7y ago
    It wouldn't have to be widespread misuse. It's not impossible that the author meant it in the way the grandparent comment wrote it, even while understanding that's not how most use it. They show an interest in using language more adventurously throughout the piece.

JCharante 7y ago

This is scarily accurate, thanks for sharing kick.

kick 7y ago
You're welcome! Always happy to share!

shdjdbxnx 7y ago

To some extent I have all of those. To a lesser extent, I believe we all have those, even my thoughtful non-American friends. Some of those flaws might be more characteristic I some people than in other peoples. So why call it “American” cargo cult? The only uniquely American aspect is that our inability to rise above these flaws is destroying the country. (I’m actually not American. I’ve just lived in the US for over a decade)

TeMPOraL 7y ago
I think the author isn't doing any kind of comparison between Americans and other people - it's just that his focus is entirely on his own country and culture, so he calls this an American problem. I.e., it is a problem in America - but might as well be a problem everywhere else too.

d-d 7y ago

I can't say I agree with most of these points, but > Certainty is strength > [and survivorship bias] This I have definitely seen and experienced. Back when I thought I knew everything some people followed me and copied what I did. I unwittingly became a leader simply by being arrogant. Now that I have a little wisdom that's all out the window. Confidence is magnetic even if its foundations are nonsense. I think the mechanism is similar to clickbait but maybe less intentional.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Yes, the phenomenon is true, but the point of the article is that it's a problem, and leads to bad outcomes. In your example, you've "became a leader simply by being arrogant". Were you, in your arrogance, to make a mistake, wouldn't your followers walk right into it and suffer the consequences?

JackPoach 7y ago

This is great. And not uniquely American.

dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago

> Emulate the purported behavior of successful people This one is very obvious and appears everywhere. People are fascinated by Jobs and the like, some even go as far as trating their employees like he did, considering this is one of the critical factors of his success.

aklemm 7y ago

How does this compare to non-American media and culture? Is it simply a human problem?

shiftless 7y ago

What it boils down to is honesty, or dishonesty. Have you ever heard the expression, "you can't cheat an honest man?" It's true, in that a truly honest man won't sign up for whatever get-rich-quick scam of the day you're pushing, because honest men know that there's no free lunch or easy ride. The sad truth is the vast majority of Americans are fundamentally dishonest people. The fact that they won't admit it, and will argue vociferously against it, is part of their dishonesty. And how could it be otherwise, when the entire so-called 'leadership' of this nation is fundamentally crooked and dishonest itself, and has been for over a hundred years, since long before the great grandparents of anyone commenting here were even born? This article is dead accurate, and its observations apply even and especially here, on this site of learned intellectuals. You see it particularly on Slashdot though, where there are certain loud mouthed regulars there, who despite perhaps knowing quite a bit about their individual niche, sometimes expose themselves as total fools in larger discussions about politics and such, getting sucked into the same R vs D, red vs blue, or whatever other 'bread and circuses' B.S. the rest of the serfs are so mesmerized by. Really, 'mesmerized' is the key word. All of this stuff is the work of pro propagandists. The book "Propaganda", published in the 1930s, is the seminal work on this subject, and quite enlightening to read, in light of everything in the U.S. media today especially, which is all lies. Attempts to bring victims of this system of lies to real, hard-won, life-saving knowledge are of course met with all the same rationalizations, equivocations, extreme skepticism, dodge tactics, etc as would be encountered in the typical 'trailer park' setting (to name an easy target), only at a much more higher and refined level. No qualitative difference exists; it's the exact same thing, at a different level of refinement; the same total lack of awareness of one's own lack of knowledge, and apparent inability to even believe that one could even be incorrect. I've heard the opinion that human brains are essentially the same as they were 40,000 years ago. It seems that's true. I can just imagine that if you took all of these people, wiped their memories, then put them in a cave banging rocks together with new fake memories of it all being normal, just "The Walking Dead" living in a cave somewhere and battling against other caves, most folks would love that life and be happier than a pig in shit. Probably more so than they are today, having to deal with all this magical and scary technology. Even the tech people. They would just get into scroll making or rock carving or invent IP over smoke signal/carrier pidgeon/giraffe or something, and be perfectly happy. It reminds me actually of some people who live in jails. Did you know that some frequenters of jails and prisons actually like that lifestyle? You and I think of it as a horrid place, but to them it's HOME. Imagine that. And look where you are, right now. Any Silicon Valley dwellers here? Is that home to you? Put yourself in the shoes of a typical, average person. Not a 140+ IQ rockstar C programmer. Not a 110 IQ typical Python programmer. (Haha.) I mean the 98 IQ guy who couldn't write 'Hello World' in BASIC to save his life, if aliens were attacking and he was the last hope for man. All of this stuff we're doing on a daily basis seems magical and extraordinary and totally unreachable to him. How can he possibly understand this world, and make wise decisions, when even a tech elitist, the cream of the society, sometimes feels overwhelmed? How can he understand the world, when he has been raised FROM BIRTH to NOT understand it, by people much more intelligent, learned, and EVIL than most? If you asked the fool if he wants to be lied to by a slick guy in a suit, he'll say no, but if you put the two of them together, he ends up buying the jalopy, or the $60k pickup he can't afford. Why? One is a predator in a position of power over the other, and the entire society is oriented to tricking and deceiving him, and has been arguably from day one. He has been literally bred to be an idiot, like so many others, then in his life trained and rewarded for stupidity and punished for intelligent thought. How can he be anything else? Do you think "Brave New World" was really fiction?? How about the Georgia Guidestones? You think the people running the world really have our collective best future in mind, given the evidence, and given what they have created this society to be? How can a learned person, having learned the truth of all this, make progress in spreading education, in an environment where everything is tilted toward anti-intellectualism and stupid "tin foil hat" jokes, by design, because that's what the dark evil masters pulling the strings in the background desire, for sinister reasons? The word 'sinister', by the way, implies left handed. There's a lesson there, for those who study details. Sorry to go all "In the Beginning There Was the Command Line" on you here..I'm rambling.. I'll close by saying I think the Balkanization of society, everyone being split into all these little niche 'specialties', has contributed greatly to the general ignorance of society. It could be there is much to be learned from the example of the old farmer running a homestead with every art and craft being practiced, and to a high level of skill. Actually, I heard so many computer programmers these days are quitting to move into the hills and become farmers, that it's become something of a meme. Could be something to be learned by studying that trend, also.