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> Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous. Is it likely the current tone of American political di

by wrp 3y ago

> Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous. Is it likely the current tone of American political discourse is a result of so many taking this attitude and assuming their political opponents must all be stupid?

djbusby 3y ago
Some of us have family that dismiss objective-truth with insurmountable "logic" such as: "yea, well, I don't believe it". What is that, if not stupid? Willfully ignorant? I think Carl Satan had a quote about folk valuing their ignorance at the same mark as others knowledge.
- xyzelement 3y ago
  I am curious what objective truth?
  - anon-coward-984 3y ago
    Your question looks genuine to me; not sure what those downvotes are for... Anyway: More than 50% of my extended family believes that humans and Brontosaurus lived together on earth within the last 10,000 years. I'm pretty sure that a few of them also believe that the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust is much less than 6 million. None of them are cruel or bigoted either. Many of them are ridiculously kind.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  [flagged]
- gramie 3y ago
  I think you mean Isaac Asimov: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
  - djbusby 3y ago
    I sure did, thanks. Please forgive typo on Carl Sagan.
- 8jef 3y ago
  > (...) objective-truth (...) Carl Satan (...) Name calling as a mean to dehumanize fellow humain beings (deceased or living), especially in the name of _objective-truth_ vs _stupid_ and/or _willfully ignorant_ appears to me as especially wicked. Unless one claims the typo excuse. Point in case, coming to believe contrarian partie(s) to be less than human is a very well documented war propaganda tactic that only become socially acceptable as said contrarian and opposing parties settle for the idea that an upcoming battle has become inevitable. This is where we're at now, at this point in time, when almost all voices who witnessed WWII horrors have passed. Brace yourself.
  - DharmaPolice 3y ago
    Given how close G and T are on the standard keyboard, that could just be an unfortunate typo (or an autocorrection).
    - djbusby 3y ago
      Auto-Uncorrect
marcod 3y ago
For me this was the most relevant passage: >The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings. (my emphasis) B was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident, who was sent to a concentration camp in 43 and was hanged 2 years later as one of the last dissidents, by personal directive from Hitler. For all other German speakers, here's the original: https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Von_der_Dummheit https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Von_der_Dummheit

by wrp 3y ago

djbusby 3y ago

Some of us have family that dismiss objective-truth with insurmountable "logic" such as: "yea, well, I don't believe it". What is that, if not stupid? Willfully ignorant? I think Carl Satan had a quote about folk valuing their ignorance at the same mark as others knowledge.

xyzelement 3y ago
I am curious what objective truth?
- anon-coward-984 3y ago
  Your question looks genuine to me; not sure what those downvotes are for... Anyway: More than 50% of my extended family believes that humans and Brontosaurus lived together on earth within the last 10,000 years. I'm pretty sure that a few of them also believe that the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust is much less than 6 million. None of them are cruel or bigoted either. Many of them are ridiculously kind.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
[flagged]
gramie 3y ago
I think you mean Isaac Asimov: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
- djbusby 3y ago
  I sure did, thanks. Please forgive typo on Carl Sagan.
8jef 3y ago
> (...) objective-truth (...) Carl Satan (...) Name calling as a mean to dehumanize fellow humain beings (deceased or living), especially in the name of _objective-truth_ vs _stupid_ and/or _willfully ignorant_ appears to me as especially wicked. Unless one claims the typo excuse. Point in case, coming to believe contrarian partie(s) to be less than human is a very well documented war propaganda tactic that only become socially acceptable as said contrarian and opposing parties settle for the idea that an upcoming battle has become inevitable. This is where we're at now, at this point in time, when almost all voices who witnessed WWII horrors have passed. Brace yourself.
- DharmaPolice 3y ago
  Given how close G and T are on the standard keyboard, that could just be an unfortunate typo (or an autocorrection).
  - djbusby 3y ago
    Auto-Uncorrect

marcod 3y ago

For me this was the most relevant passage: >The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings. (my emphasis) B was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident, who was sent to a concentration camp in 43 and was hanged 2 years later as one of the last dissidents, by personal directive from Hitler. For all other German speakers, here's the original: https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Von_der_Dummheit https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Von_der_Dummheit