[–] deathcomesilent 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
If a person does what you just described, they simply don't care about, or don't understand the consequences of that action.
If we are being honest here, the human problem lies with self esteem, and the systemic issue lies with platforms like voat and reddit. Uncensored fourms certainly do more good than not, but they also certainly put people in a situation where they are willing to be amoral as long as they get some arbitrary reward like kudos, or props, or karma, or ccp, or whatever.
This simple concept is why I will never take info without (at least) 2 sources.
[–] Konran [S] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Yeah, sorry. Should've been a little more specific. I guess I was meaning the mainstream media - things like with the recent Greece default issue. I have heard so many people blaming the Greeks for their predicament because they are greedy, selfish and lazy just because that is the general narrative being churned out by the recognised press. Either that or the polar opposite which is everyone else in the Eurozone is greedy, selfish yet hard-working. It seems to me as if people can't really be bothered to ask 'Why would this be the story that we are being fed?' nowadays. Maybe it's an educational problem because I remember my mother always telling me to ask questions and look deeper which really pissed my teachers off at school as well as many other life aquaintances I've met outside of that particular institution.
[–] wonkifier 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago (edited ago)
This is /v/criticalthinking, right?
Why aren't we discussing whether the original statement is actually true... Do the majority of people take comments they hear as gospel?
What comments? If someone uncritically accepts a single comment, but not others, do the fall into that category?
[–] KiloJuliet 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
People would much rather believe what is popular than to know the truth. It's about vanity, fitting in, etc. They are just lonely people who are willing to forsake reality for a feeling of fitting in.
[–] Konran [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Yes - the problems of vanity and fitting in I can agree with.
In respect to them all being 'lonely people' - I'd like to believe that, but I have found that family and friends of mine are also guilty of this phenomena. To be honest I think this all comes down to choice. If people really want to take responsibilty for the information they receive then there are many alternative sources that they can go to nowadays for a more wide-ranging set of views. In a way I think it more likely suggests laziness rather than loneliness, with many people citing that they are too busy trying to 'win' in life to be able to research the news for themselves.
[–] Genghis_Khan 0 points 11 points 11 points (+11|-0) ago
I think the short answer is that most of the population simply lacks the intellect to really question anything they're told in any meaningful way apart from the most obvious of untruths. For example, "Greeks are lazy," while clearly false for being too broad and sweeping, feeds into people's natural desire to label things they don't know or understand, i.e. Greeks.
The people that feed us the information know this.
[–] Evarett 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
Lots of people just dont have the time to critically think. Work is about 8 hours if not more. after you have to drive home most of the time. relationships like SO's which take a good amount of time. friendships need some time if you want it to continue. family obligations. getting food and other needless chores like changing car oil. just so many things take peoples time away that it leaves most people not wanting to critically think about helping the world. They have only enough time to help themselves. now if only work life didnt take up so much life, thats when I can see people, the modern people having the ability to think more often with full energy.
[–] RandomNumberGod 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Because for a working-class laborer, feeding their kids is more important than intellectual pursuits. In order to understand that your immediate needs are best fulfilled by resolving the larger problems of your society, you must spend the effort necessary to understand the deeper mechanisms at work, but for your mind to engage in such frivolous pursuits, it demands that your more essential needs are fulfilled first. It's a vicious circle, where the poor never attain political consciousness because they are too busy trying to get by. This theory captures the idea pretty well.
Of course, there isn't a strict flowchart that your brain follows, there exist both natural thinkers and the intellectually lazy.
[–] Konran [S] ago
Agree with what you say, but that isn't really what I was questioning. I don't believe you need to be focused on intellectual pursuits or have attained some political consciousness to realise that you don't know something. Being self-aware is not an educational thing - in reality accepting that you are not an authority on something does not need to be learned. So I guess like some posters have said before it comes down to a need to maintain self esteem (with an inherent need for belonging if you will), even though it's based on flimsy opinion pieces that people choose to believe without thought.