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No it isn't. There people are not clueless ignoramuses, they're paranoid assholes who have chosen to weaponize their dislike of anything 'official' for politica

No it isn't. There people are not clueless ignoramuses, they're paranoid assholes who have chosen to weaponize their dislike of anything 'official' for political ends. There is a market for propaganda and it is thriving, because many people want their biases reinforced. Thinking the issue is a lack of education is a kind of procrastination, as if we can just fix this over a 20 year span. Ignorance is not the problem here, malice is. There are plenty of ignorant people who are uninformed or believe silly things without being assholes about it. There's an unwillingness on HN to engage with the fact that the amplification effect of the broadcast/internet/social media selects for liars and propagandists and fraudsters absent countering mechanisms. That's why spamming and scamming are ubiquitous in our super high tech civilization.

consteval 2y ago
While I agree with this, I will say that people most susceptible to propaganda and confirmation bias are people who lack critical thinking skills IMO. Critical thinking and evidence-based reasoning, as taught in your average language arts and social studies courses, specifically calls out bias and teaches kids how to be skeptical. When I was in school, we read passages and books and got to make whatever conclusion we wanted. But the essay we wrote had to be evidence-based. The teacher didn't care so much what we said, but rather that we could form a logical string to say it. All this is to say, I think yes - if public education is further destroyed this will only get worse.
- illiac786 2y ago
  I remember some interesting stories about elections being stolen for example: this was a very popular story across all education levels. Same for antivax movement, it was present across all education levels. But I am not 100% on this.
- ifyoubuildit 2y ago
  > I will say that people most susceptible to propaganda and confirmation bias are people who lack critical thinking skills IMO I think this is an uncontroversial statement. I also think virtually everyone who thinks this is probably certain ~they~ wouldn't be dumb enough to be taken in. Realistically, if information is coming at you for free (like pretty much all of it is), it's purpose is to get someone a return. We are swimming in a sea of marketing and propaganda. No class is going to save you from that.
  - consteval 2y ago
    I think mitigation is still better than nothing.
soco 2y ago
It's difficult for people employed by the same platforms built (by the same people) with the aim to precisely amplify and trap, to recognize that their work is a major factor - if not biggest - in the erosion of whatever we hold dear. Nevertheless, education is suffering as well.

consteval 2y ago

While I agree with this, I will say that people most susceptible to propaganda and confirmation bias are people who lack critical thinking skills IMO. Critical thinking and evidence-based reasoning, as taught in your average language arts and social studies courses, specifically calls out bias and teaches kids how to be skeptical. When I was in school, we read passages and books and got to make whatever conclusion we wanted. But the essay we wrote had to be evidence-based. The teacher didn't care so much what we said, but rather that we could form a logical string to say it. All this is to say, I think yes - if public education is further destroyed this will only get worse.

illiac786 2y ago
I remember some interesting stories about elections being stolen for example: this was a very popular story across all education levels. Same for antivax movement, it was present across all education levels. But I am not 100% on this.
ifyoubuildit 2y ago
> I will say that people most susceptible to propaganda and confirmation bias are people who lack critical thinking skills IMO I think this is an uncontroversial statement. I also think virtually everyone who thinks this is probably certain ~they~ wouldn't be dumb enough to be taken in. Realistically, if information is coming at you for free (like pretty much all of it is), it's purpose is to get someone a return. We are swimming in a sea of marketing and propaganda. No class is going to save you from that.
- consteval 2y ago
  I think mitigation is still better than nothing.

soco 2y ago

It's difficult for people employed by the same platforms built (by the same people) with the aim to precisely amplify and trap, to recognize that their work is a major factor - if not biggest - in the erosion of whatever we hold dear. Nevertheless, education is suffering as well.