3 ms·

Credibility is only lost (by bad behavior over long periods of time) to those few who have been able to actually observe that same behavior over that long perio

by teddyh 3y ago

Credibility is only lost (by bad behavior over long periods of time) to those few who have been able to actually observe that same behavior over that long period of time. New people are constantly coming in, saying “Surely everything is good now, right?”. And the new people invariably outnumber the old people, so the new people win the day.

111111IIIIIII 3y ago
Exactly this. A working American's lifetime capacity to evaluate and fact-check history lessons is vastly insufficient. As a voracious radical most of my life now pushing 40, I am still learning what I don’t know about the basics, and I attend weekly reading groups ffs!
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
rixed 3y ago
This is not because new people come in greater numbers but rather because of who we want to be true.
smaudet 3y ago
I had an interesting experience lately with a mentalist performer...they were using various subtle powers of suggestion to influence their outcomes to "predict" and "mind-read". And yet when I mentioned the (well documented and studied) effects to some of the folk who attended with me, the immediate and emotional reaction was shock and disbelief, despite a couple of the members of the party having been directly affected. The mentalist performers had even partially explained their trick (without giving away the details). And yet, their level of cognitive dissonance was so high, that they could not accept a plausible explanation for something that they themselves could not otherwise explain. A good lesson being, if a young person is saying "everything is fine", they surely know nothing and everything is far from it, barring substantial proof to the contrary. They are likely to be severely in denial, and much like altering someone's political or religious beliefs, altering their perceptions is likely to be as difficult. Or another way to put it - everyone is in fact an imposter. We only don't notice, because everyone else is just as bad (for the most part).
avgcorrection 3y ago
> New people are constantly coming in, saying “Surely everything is good now, right?”. What? No. People who are naive about this are derided as “Boomers”.

by teddyh 3y ago

111111IIIIIII 3y ago

Exactly this. A working American's lifetime capacity to evaluate and fact-check history lessons is vastly insufficient. As a voracious radical most of my life now pushing 40, I am still learning what I don’t know about the basics, and I attend weekly reading groups ffs!

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

rixed 3y ago

This is not because new people come in greater numbers but rather because of who we want to be true.

smaudet 3y ago

I had an interesting experience lately with a mentalist performer...they were using various subtle powers of suggestion to influence their outcomes to "predict" and "mind-read". And yet when I mentioned the (well documented and studied) effects to some of the folk who attended with me, the immediate and emotional reaction was shock and disbelief, despite a couple of the members of the party having been directly affected. The mentalist performers had even partially explained their trick (without giving away the details). And yet, their level of cognitive dissonance was so high, that they could not accept a plausible explanation for something that they themselves could not otherwise explain. A good lesson being, if a young person is saying "everything is fine", they surely know nothing and everything is far from it, barring substantial proof to the contrary. They are likely to be severely in denial, and much like altering someone's political or religious beliefs, altering their perceptions is likely to be as difficult. Or another way to put it - everyone is in fact an imposter. We only don't notice, because everyone else is just as bad (for the most part).

avgcorrection 3y ago

> New people are constantly coming in, saying “Surely everything is good now, right?”. What? No. People who are naive about this are derided as “Boomers”.