Quote:
Originally Posted by bolognium
LFPress comments section again a livefeed of The Dunning–Kruger effect in action. A bunch of uniformed idiots shouting their backwards-ass opinions at each other in an echo chamber.
I've asked this before, but do you guys think the comments there represent Londoners in general? Or does it skew towards a select demographic of stupid Londoners?
Needed a shot and a cigarette after reading some of the hot garbage in there. Makes me genuinely upset that people so dumb have any voice at all in this city.
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It certainly is part Dunning–Kruger. Some people will have had some sort of limited exposure to one sort of complex process or another, and now think they are qualified to not only have an opinion, but a strong one on the matter. There is more than that though: in my experience, there has always been a segment of society out there that is by nature cantankerous. In my professional life, I’ve been called out as corrupt, on the take, incompetent, uncaring, etc. by people who would admit that they really don’t know how my business is performed – they just know that they don’t like what I’m doing, and what it is that I’m doing is driven by either stupid or nefarious reasons(or both). Because they are incapable of critiquing my actions from a professional perspective, it turns very personal quickly and I’m instead critiqued by them from a morality or general intelligence perspective. In the days prior to mass social media on the internet, such folks would watch the late night news on television and when an item came up that they were angered by they would throw something at the TV, angrily turn off the TV, and stagger off to bed grumbling.
Now we have social media (including comments sections in the Freep). Such folks now have an outlet for their anger that they could only dream of in years past – and have taken to it en mass. Their ignorant, misplaced, and unwarranted rage now has a voice.
Now, add to that traditional group a whole new group even larger than the original: people who feel disenfranchised by the rate and type of change in the world. Economic change is happening at lightning speed and whole segments of the population are being left behind with little hope of catching up. Traditional social values in some cases are being in turned on their head, disturbing many who cannot understand or empathize. A lot of people are simply unequipped to deal with this: half of the population has less than an average IQ, and half of the population have less than average emotional tolerance. They are being left behind economically and/or socially and don’t have the mental wherewithal to find success in this modern world. As a result, they are angry. Very angry. It’s all that they have remaining. So, much like the first group, it gets very personal once again because they do not (or cannot) comprehend and adapt to the complexity of how the real world operates. So… the mayor is personally responsible for the drug addict/homeless issue because he wants to exasperate the drug crisis – not stop it. The Prime Minister is personally the cause of interest rates going up because he wants to hurt people. City staff are personally the cause for a big expensive project going over budget because they are stupid and arrogant….
Then, there is the third group: they just like to stir up the rage because they simply enjoy watching the world burn.
So, in closing, first group will always exist. The real concern is the second group. It is growing in size. How much of the population of Londoners do they represent? Hard to say of course, but social media and the internet gives them a loud and disproportionately loud voice in society making them seem larger than they likely are – but much like a virus it can and does spread and infect others. It is the poison that social media often is. That’s the real danger: that spreading virus leading to the increasing diminishing of rationally and civility in society. It’s the glue that holds us together.
PS - sorry for the long post. Couldn't put my personal experiences on the issue into a few sentences.