2 ms·

> I have some sympathy for individuals who adopt conspiracy theories. In some sense is this treating them as children? sheep without any intellectual volition?

> I have some sympathy for individuals who adopt conspiracy theories. In some sense is this treating them as children? sheep without any intellectual volition? I do not have much sympathy for individuals who adopt conspiracy theories. If they're adults they're able to think critically and they've decided not to. Sure, despots who use conspiracy theories to manipulate the masses are more culpable, but those of the masses who adopt them uncritically also deserve some blame.

csours 4y ago
I'm sympathetic about the reasons they have decided to not think critically. Also remember that adult does not mean perfect brain. --- To put this another way - Michael Shermer writes and talks about weird things that people believe and shows why they are not true. This is good. But sometimes it seems like he has a sense of superiority about it. It's like atheists telling people there are no gods and that it is silly to believe in god. Do you need a sense of superiority to believe these things yourself? Do you need the other person to feel bad about the wrong thing they believed? At times it may be expressed as intellectual bullying. I don't think it's infantilizing to recognize that we make assumptions when we are young that we hold throughout our lives. We learn how to process sensations and emotions when we are young. Of course the way we do that processing matures with age, but not all at the same rate; and some things may not mature. People can act very childish when they are denied something they feel they are entitled to, for instance.
AnonCoward42 4y ago
They don't believe what you believe so you can have no sympathy for them. I could partly understand if you have no sympathy for conspiracy theories, but no sympathy for a person because of a perceived flaw seems like zebra thinking.

2 ms·

> I have some sympathy for individuals who adopt conspiracy theories. In some sense is this treating them as children? sheep without any intellectual volition?

by UncleOxidant 4y ago

csours 4y ago
I'm sympathetic about the reasons they have decided to not think critically. Also remember that adult does not mean perfect brain. --- To put this another way - Michael Shermer writes and talks about weird things that people believe and shows why they are not true. This is good. But sometimes it seems like he has a sense of superiority about it. It's like atheists telling people there are no gods and that it is silly to believe in god. Do you need a sense of superiority to believe these things yourself? Do you need the other person to feel bad about the wrong thing they believed? At times it may be expressed as intellectual bullying. I don't think it's infantilizing to recognize that we make assumptions when we are young that we hold throughout our lives. We learn how to process sensations and emotions when we are young. Of course the way we do that processing matures with age, but not all at the same rate; and some things may not mature. People can act very childish when they are denied something they feel they are entitled to, for instance.
AnonCoward42 4y ago
They don't believe what you believe so you can have no sympathy for them. I could partly understand if you have no sympathy for conspiracy theories, but no sympathy for a person because of a perceived flaw seems like zebra thinking.