3 ms·
Are there really that many unbelievably stupid people?
by ndsipa_pomu 1y ago
Are there really that many unbelievably stupid people?
- spencerflem 1y agoSome of them are unbelievably cruel
- JKCalhoun 1y agoProbably the most horrible thing I heard this year: “I’m ready to watch people burn now.”
- animitronix 1y agoYup!
- BeFlatXIII 1y agoThis is what abolishing knowledge tests for voting caused. It was an unintended consequence of a necessary reform.
- ndsipa_pomu 1y agoAs I recall, those knowledge tests were specifically designed to prevent black people voting. Unfortunately, the USA seems to be regressing to a system whereby only rich white men would be able to vote (and only if they're going to vote for the fascists).
- anigbrowl 1y agoHumans display a reduced set of consistent behavioral phenotypes in dyadic games https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1600451 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1600451 Evidence suggests that about 30% of people will accept being worse off in order to inflict a greater loss on someone else. They form a plurality, with the other groups being win-win types (~20%), loss-averse pessimists (~20%), selfless volunteers (~15%), and inconsistent folks who may be confused (~15%). Now this is just empirical observation rather than proof, but it's a good quality observation, enough that it has heuristic value. If you admit the possibility that about 1/3 of people are mean, then an awful lot of ongoing political phenomena become much easier to understand.
- spencerflem 1y agoYeah, I think this is super important. I didn’t come to this easily, as someone who generally believes in the goodness of others. But it’s really the only explanation at this point