Stupidify Stupidify according to the Oxford dictionary. There are too many people who want the citizens to be stupid. Democracy fell when ancient Rome became an empire, the end is known. Everything should be done to stop the process
Humanity is getting stupider. At some point the forces opposing science and inventing a virtual and distorted reality for their believers, began to emerge from the shadows and worsen the damage they have caused so far. An example of this is last week's decision by the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has allowed women in the US to have abortions for fifty years.
And before the reasons - it turns out that reality is faster than the worst predictions. In the days following the abortion decision, US courts passed a series of decisions preventing, for example, restrictions on the carrying of weapons, neutralizing the government in its efforts to fight the climate crisis, and even interfering in decisions abolishing the separation of religion from the state - for example, in matters of prayers in schools and government funding of religious schools (See a comprehensive review by the New York Times and which was translated on the Haaretz website)
The decision of the US Supreme Court to overturn a fifty-year-old ruling that gave federal legal validity to abortion, a decision that was apparently made in the name of a democratic principle - to let each country decide for itself, is unfortunately another sign of the stupidity that is going on in the world.
Stupidify - causing stupidity according to the dictionary definition of OXFORD LANGUAGES (in English Stupidify) is perhaps the most accurate definition that brings together seemingly unrelated phenomena, but definitely has a common denominator.
Let's start with the war on science that the Republican presidents in the US have intensified every time one of them enters the White House - whether it's withdrawing from the climate agreement (Bush and Trump), preventing stem cell research (Bush) and more. These issues have translated, especially in the era of Trump, into a real war - to the point of crushing the EPA, the Environmental Protection Authority, which was filled with industrialists, through NASA, which was asked to invest more in deep space flights than in Earth research, this went as far as shutting down the Centennial spacecraft that transmitted images of the Earth In full light, if only to hide evidence concerning, for example, the shrinking of the glaciers, and thousands of other small (and even petty) but consistent and cumulative decisions.
Haunted world - the candle in the darkness shrinks
Stupidity in the US is nothing new. The late Prof. Carl Sagan dedicated many books including the one he wrote on his deathbed to the fight against it, called "A Demon Haunted World - Science as a Fiddler in the Dark". The stupidity he describes in America is worrying, the level of education is low in most of the USA, when the universities were already filled with Indians and Chinese. The shallowness of the yellow press, the advertisements in magazines that appeal to a certain community - for example UFO enthusiasts - also sell homeopathic medicines and other vegetables.
In an article on the MIT PRESS website Peter Gleeson and Robert Proctor explain Because the attitude of the American public to science has known ups and downs. "A hundred years ago, with the great technological inventions that made wealth possible, there was a boom in trust in science. After the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, some began to reject science as an anti-moral factor."
"Interest in science returned with the launch of Sputnik, which started not only a space race but an overall scientific race, which also made it possible to allocate large public budgets for research. Until then, the funding came mainly from donations and the audience had to be excited so that random donors would hear about the research and donate. When the public funds arrived and with them the criticism of the peers - the scientists stopped referring to the general public. Then doubts also began to arise in the public because of the contribution of science to the development of technologies harmful to the environment, as the pioneer of the environmental movement Rachel Carson noticed in connection with DDT.
"In the following decade, progress in the fields of fertility again led to fear of scientific progress, and this time it was fueled by conservatives who feared entering God's sphere of activity and moral problems related to fertility. The industry people - mainly the fossil fuel industry who opposed the scientific approach to climate change joined religious conservatives who feared the study of the theory of evolution and the developments in the field of fertility."
The internet was supposed to be a tool for spreading knowledge, but instead it has become a tool where anyone can create their own world and claim that it is the real world. This is how a belief developed in the dangers that are hidden from the public eye in scientific developments in drugs, cell phones, vaccines, electromagnetic fields, water fluoridation, and genetically modified plants, and this despite the fact that these beliefs have no scientific basis. This is also how delusional and contradictory ideas written by a frustrated Hollywood screenwriter, under the nickname Qannon, were put forward, which increased the stupidity to the point of creating a false world regarding the results of the US elections in 2020.
"Wherever the people are well informed," wrote Thomas Jefferson, "they will trust their government." Jefferson was a lawyer and a scientist, and like the other founders of the United States, he risked his life to protect the ability of people to govern themselves, relying on scientific knowledge against the authoritarian rule of kings."
The autocratic elite in many western countries
But when this tool is used to spread misinformation, we get autocratic leaders who were apparently elected in free elections in countries like Brazil, Hungary, Poland, the Philippines, and of course the USA. The ease with which it was possible in the middle of the previous decade to invent news that did not exist and was not created (fake news) apparently made it possible for some Russian hackers to disrupt the referendum in Great Britain that resulted in Great Britain leaving the European Union (Brexit) against the interests of the British. It was possible to invent fake news that senior Democratic operatives including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton were running a pedophilia ring from the basement of a Washington pizza restaurant and people believed it despite the incoherence. This brought an armed man to the restaurant who believed the story and opened fire that luckily did not hit anyone, only to discover that the restaurant had no basement at all.
A large part of the conspiracy theories also contain antisemitic elements. In these theories there are always some people who secretly run the world, they and not the governments as is commonly thought. In Israel they don't say who they are, but not like that in the world; We heard, for example, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia who accused the Rothschild family of shooting a laser from space that caused the fires in California. It could be funny if it wasn't sad.
Perhaps the peak of the use of fake news is now taking place in Russia, when its president, Vladimir Putin, an autocrat who preceded the others we mentioned earlier and may also have helped them get elected, claims that the government of Ukraine consists of Nazis. The fact that the president and three senior ministers are Jewish did not prevent them from claiming this.
The oil tycoons in the West we mentioned above seem to prefer doing business with autocratic rulers. The gas outline in Israel is an example of this because the agreement was signed despite a public protest and while completely ignoring it and treating the citizens of Israel as subjects. Unfortunately in Israel there are bodies that imitate one by one all the most delusional decisions in the USA. When you get to the elections, it is advisable to check who it is and avoid choosing them.
This danger has not passed and it may even increase when millions of people live in a media bubble that has nothing to do with reality. They believe in a large number of conspiracy theories, some of them contradictory whose common denominator is - don't believe the media, and don't trust the government experts because they are biased in favor of such and such companies (the truth is that it is not completely far-fetched, as we know, but the oil tycoons are going in the opposite direction here when they The pharmaceutical companies are being sacrificed as part of a campaign that may result in the destruction of democracy. Dotan Reiss explained this well in the article "Paradigmatic Crisis in the Flat Land" - the believers must not believe anyone, not even their friends, they have to check everything themselves).
The resistance to listening to experts is a recipe for anarchy and a return to the Middle Ages
Since man came down from the trees, a long process of specializations began, at the end of which each one engages in a field in which he has a relative advantage and frees others for crafts in which they have a relative advantage. The idea that every person should be an expert in everything is a clear recipe for anarchy.
The ruling on abortion from last week, following the destruction of democracy in other ways, shows that it is impossible to trust that hard-earned rights will be preserved under a regime with totalitarian features (the decision was made thanks to three judges appointed by Trump). We must in some way penetrate the iron curtain that hides the reality from millions of people, this is the first step before the restoration of democracy. But how do you do that when social networks actually benefit from polarization?
Maybe this strange coalition of tycoons, socially closed people and clergy have no interest in stopping the bullshit. Most people who want to continue living in democratic countries have an interest in it, and it is desirable that someone starts doing something about it, and not just complain. With dictators you can only talk to the wall.
We all need to learn from the past, so as not to repeat it - the reference is to the stage when democracy in the Roman Republic was abolished and power passed to the emperors. How it ends - we all know. We don't have a thousand years to waste on a new Middle Ages.
Why should this concern us, citizens of Israel? First of all, there are a lot of Hebrew readers in the US and secondly, for some reason, the Israeli right has determined that all the agendas of the American right must be implemented here one by one, and especially laws created due to the libertarian approach according to which the government has no role in our lives and everyone should be left to their own devices so that the polluters The big ones will be able to pollute without accounting, and the result is ignoring the climate crisis and even sabotaging the fight against it and encouraging anti-scientific ideas in general.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
16 תגובות
The era of the collapse of conceptions has arrived
From the collapse of Netanyahu's security concept
To the collapse of Newton's scientific conception
When the guns roar the muses are silent.
This article is intended for discussion starting at 6 o'clock after the war.
The idea of gravity was given to the world by Newton 330 years ago.
Newton believed that there was a mysterious and wonderful force emanating from the depths of the earth, and that its whole function was to knock down objects that fell from our hands. Such a mysterious power brings the reader to the world of fairy tales, and the imagination gives this power the image of a friendly, invisible demon.
Newton gave this demon the soothing name "gravitational force".
Amazingly, Newton swept away many believers in the idea of gravity, and so began a strange scientific investigation of physical reality, with the physics of demons and spirits.
Why did Newton invent the delusional idea of gravity.
Newton did not know that objects that were handed out of our hands fall by themselves, and thus they fulfill a wonderful physical law of nature, which is the law of conservation of energy. This law of conservation was accepted in science only 170 years ago, and Newton obviously did not know about its existence.
And since Newton did not know that objects fall by themselves, and did not know about the existence of the law of conservation of energy, he invented the idea of gravity. This crazy idea lasted 160 years in all official physics curricula, creating a scientific quagmire
Thick and cloudy, which prevented any possibility of getting to know the true structure of the universe.
Newton's murky scientific quagmire was canceled out by physical reality that revealed to the world the existence of a miraculous quantitative law, which is the conservation of energy.
How the law of conservation of energy, eliminates the concept of gravity.
To lift a large stone off the ground to a height of 1 meter, you have to exert yourself and get tired, and this amount of fatigue represents an amount of energy.
If we release this stone from a height of 1 meter, it will fall down by itself with increasing speed, and its impact will hit the ground. Show exactly the same amount of energy that was needed to lift the stone to a height of 1 meter.
Physical reality is miraculous and works by itself, and it is she who taught scientists about the existence of an important physical law of nature - the law of conservation of energy.
There are many types of energy, and they can replace each other, according to the law of conservation of quantity. Physical reality works by itself, according to miraculous laws inherent in it, and curious researchers of physical reality began to discover these laws.
The law of conservation of energy that was discovered 170 years ago completely cancels out Newton's physics that requires gravity - and it proves that objects that are separated from our hands - fall by themselves, and there is no mysterious demon in physical reality that knocks them down..
And what turns out? For 170 years, Newton's physics has been taught in universities, and not a single teacher stood up and shouted "there is no gravity, and Newton's physics is incorrect"
It should be emphasized that Newton did not know that his physics was incorrect, but already 170 years ago, the physics teachers knew about the existence of the law of conservation of energy which eliminates the idea of gravity, but they were afraid of the believers in the idea of gravity, and did not tell this to their students.
These 170 miserable years of fear produced terrible errors in the concept of matter and the structure of the universe, and the concepts of dark particle matter and dark energy testify to this.
Now the era of the collapse of concepts has arrived, and it is time to move to a different physics, based on miraculous laws inherent in physical reality. This is the real physics, and it appears in a revolutionary book - which bears the name - "Esbar's magical journey on the wings of natural knowledge"
This book conflicts with all the physical teachings developed in the last 150 years, and it presents to the world a new physics, and also a new geometry of circles.
In the new physics, matter is continuous and has no gravity, and the stars of the universe move in spiral orbits in space filled with passive time.
Passive time is a new type of time that exists right in physical reality, when the time we all know exists only in the human mind, and it disappears the moment you think about it.
Therefore the proper name for it is active time.
A. Asbar
"The fact that the president and three senior ministers are Jewish, did not prevent them from claiming this", here, dear writer, you are already expressing an opinion! So let me remind you: both the Judenart and the capo were Jews... a smart person like you surely knows what's going on, you wrote in a fascinating way and the paragraph about Putin ruined everything!! The sole culprit in everything that happens there is the child/clown/player etc... who thought he could run a country, by the looks of it a group on Wataf he can't run
I'm not sure that the "stupid" theory works in all cases, and I'll explain with an example:
"Vladimir Putin [...] claims that the government of Ukraine consists of Nazis. The fact that the president and three senior ministers are Jewish did not prevent them from claiming this.'
The Ukrainian government is not made up of Nazis, is it? But there are declared neo-Nazi elements there who collaborate with the government and the West against Russia, and by virtue of that they have an influence on decision-making (I put references at the end).
So to claim that the government is made up of Nazis is certainly not true, but also not completely unfounded. Reality is very complex and it is difficult to find your hands and feet in it. I don't think people today are more stupid than before - I think the opposite is true. But while people are *a little* smarter today, reality is *much* more complex for the common man.
A hundred or two hundred years ago, who expected ordinary people to understand things at the level of complexity of climate change? Today, unfortunately, it is necessary. In my opinion, even though we are smarter, asking people who live in a conservative/capitalist sounding board to understand that despite everything they hear from their environment that the climate crisis exists and is significant, is a pretty big ask, and to say that they are not successful because they are stupid is a deficient description, both factually and practically.
About Nazis in Ukraine:
https://youtu.be/fEgAw81dBmI?t=2739
https://www.haaretz.co.il/blogs/johnbrown/2018-07-08/ty-article/0000017f-f8c2-d044-adff-fbfbe5b40000
Where do you learn about "mankind is getting stupider"? There is no reference to this. Reality shows the opposite - all sciences have progressed in giant leaps. Can we seriously accept the claim that humanity is more stupid today than 50 and 100 years ago? The claim comes from the editor of the site and is contrary to what is stated on the site and the reason for its existence. There are surfers on the site, who take things without thinking.
Regarding "a court has decided to limit the powers of the Environmental Protection Authority EPA by requiring factories to reduce carbon emissions" -
There seems to be a misunderstanding: the role of a court is to interpret the law. The role of a federal supreme court in the US is to review the judgments of state courts. If the law does not expressly authorize the authority to limit individual freedom - then there is no authority. Why? Because individual freedom is important, and it is the legislator's duty to write clear laws. A court does not prohibit the granting of authority to authorities by law. The legislator must amend the existing law (and in a logical connection to the need - confiscation of the factory and death of its owner is not required).
This method is the most democratic: a law is written by the majority, and the damage is done by the rule of the majority towards the minority. If the state authorities want to rely on a lack of law and limit individual freedom in work and property - then a court stops the harm.
In response to "agree with what was written" the people who chose to give women the right to vote were the people in a democratic process and not the government. The fact that you think women deserve the right to vote is your personal opinion, but you cannot impose it on people who think otherwise. According to what you wrote, you are basically implying that you want a liberal dictatorial rule in which everyone is obliged to act according to the liberal current even if there is a conservative majority in the country. History has already proven several times that the chances are that such a regime will end in mass murder. For example, the use of terms like stupidity and demonization of the people who think the opposite of you are exactly the dark ideas that brought Hitler to power.
Just so you know, my warning that the oil people are behind the conservative campaign came true within a few days - when the same court decided to limit the powers of the Environmental Protection Authority EPA in demanding factories to reduce carbon emissions. The abortions were just a warm-up, because they are part of an extreme coalition that has taken over the Republican Party.
Bullshit. Demonstrating stupidity in terms of "Trump", "conservative judges" and "abortion" is only demagoguery.
It seems to me that the author of the article relies more on messages from the media, than on relevant objective information. It does not appear that the writer read and understood the rulings Roe and Dobbs.
In the US, regarding abortion there is more consensus than disagreement. It is agreed regarding the second third trimester of pregnancy - each state in the US has the authority to regulate in internal legislation and even to prohibit the performance of abortions as a criminal penalty. Regarding the first trimester - the dispute is about whether Christians are alive. If not - then the state's authority is withdrawn from the woman's right over her body. If so - then the authority of the state increases. In any case, there is no obligation to enact a ban on abortions. A woman who wants to have an artificial abortion at any stage, she does so in a country where there is no prevention as well as in international waters.
In democracy there is a potential according to which, an idiot voter will choose idiots to represent him in power. This is the essence of free choice and there is no need to be resentful. Despite this, democratic countries continue to progress and develop in all areas of life, including science. Many peoples aspire to democracy in their countries, sometimes risking their freedom and life.
But this is where the role of the media comes in - a role it has neglected in recent decades - to inform the public. The media stopped reporting democracy, and started taking part in the democratic process. The result: biased journalists, articles and investigations for hire, hiding information, revealing half-truths, trending reports and even downright false reports, have all become our routine lot.
The author of the article is not exempt. His use of the website to promote a personal political idea while insulting and disparaging a competing political idea is a clear example of the same fallacy.
Just a note about the Nazis and the Jews: We in Israel see the Nazis as anti-Semites who want and almost succeeded in destroying the Jewish people. This is partly true. They did hate the Jews, but not only them - large parts of Europe hated the Jews. And their goals were not only to destroy the Jews and as evidenced in World War II, 8 times or more non-Jews were killed.
Everyone knows that among Jews the word "Nazis" is taken personally. But the word Nazis for them is not necessarily related to Jews and is no different from the word fascists or communists. For them, even Jews can be Nazis.
In the past, the education system was based on memorization. Today it should be based on education for independent and critical thinking. Distinguishing what is a reliable source of information and what is an unreliable source of information. Investing in public education is the only way, but there is a feeling that the same parties who advocate stupidity also oppose investing in education and are interested in generations of ignorant people. Perhaps the solution is an honesty certificate + an intelligence test as a condition for voting in the elections.
On the other hand, I strongly disagree with what commenter A wrote:
"How is the abortion law related to scientific knowledge or stupidity? This is generally a moral matter, and morality is determined by social conventions, so it should be determined democratically."
In the past, women and blacks also did not have the right to vote, because they believed that they were inferior and that women had no place in the kitchen. Blacks were also slaves, and women had no rights, including no inheritance, guardianship over their children, and more. Rights are denied based on people's beliefs that are not related to reality. What is one woman to blame for someone else's beliefs and why must she give birth because of him? And why is the baby to blame for having to be born to a mother who does not want him? And if tomorrow some religious person decides that he believes that blacks are inferior, then they will bring back slavery because the majority believes that?
Most US residents are in favor of abortion freedom. In general, the majority supports the Republicans, the reason the Democrats are successful is because of the distortion of the electoral system there. The winner takes all the electors of that state even if the difference was one vote and New York and California always have millions more voters for Democrats
The article discusses the distortion of reality but does so by itself when it publishes a personal opinion under the guise of a scientific article. This article presents many false claims about it that it is difficult to address them all. For example, how is the abortion law related to scientific knowledge or stupidity? It is generally a moral matter and morality is determined by social conventions, therefore it should be determined democratically. If the majority of US residents are against abortion, it is very good that the law was repealed because it is difficult to maintain a stable regime when the majority of the people are against you. To claim that there is some absolute morality that prevails over the democratic will of the people is a rotten opinion that cannot exist in proper governance.
Even the argument that fat people are stupid is not backed by scientific research. Political inclination is often related to a geographical area and not to intelligence.
The only claim in the article that may be relevant is ignoring scientific studies. There is no doubt that politicians sometimes ignore what they want but I don't think this is a new phenomenon. Politicians from the dawn of time used to present reality as it suited them.
An article that raises a serious and complex issue, even in a language response that will not include all of these, only a certain aspect and it is
Education for curiosity and also for skepticism not for the sake of skepticism and paranoia as a basic tool that helps the individual and society to get closer to the truth and reality, when you are equipped with this you tend to see more shades and colors in reality,
In some cases it is about 2 sides of the political map and the entire range between the 2 sides,
Each party in this equation is sure that the stupidity is the property of the opposite party and is free from self-examination,
A type of polarization in which each side has a table of dozens of details that "need" to be filled in what is on my side "the right and moral" and everything that is not included and will be found on the other side is "the wrong and immoral"
There is no way that I might basically connect to some of the issues of one side but also connect to some of the issues of the other side,
A central part of the solution to this should be built into the education system - for example, how do you analyze information that comes from a central or social media system, what are the thinking tools you need to understand the direction and structure of the information, political agenda, general agenda, etc.. It starts with a title that explains how You should think even if the content sometimes contradicts the headline, there is also an economic motive in an exaggerated flashy headline that should bring you into the article, the connections of the media owners to information or the lack of information, what is the meaning and influence of a person with enormous financial power like Bezos who controls central media systems on the quality of information or lack of information,
How is the chosen photo supposed to affect you emotionally, the angle that was taken and the objects in it, the basic premise that it is not random, there is an attempt to influence you, how software bots work, you can simply see the source code with thousands of pre-prepared responses that the software ran looking for articles with a specific subject or person and name below in the responses you will get A bunch of comments that are supposed to have an effect or human bots can fill entire articles. This is a means that is used for example in comments and articles, videos by foreign governments and also economic factors through image companies, let's take for example a small number of people who receive a salary from a foreign country whose whole job is to harm another country, what will happen Their power (insane) which methods they will use, which channels of information they will use, their purpose can make you doubt the information, not to bring you closer to reality and to verify these to distance you from the truth, even a private person can by a better understanding of how information is transmitted and the reliability of the sources of the information analyze the information if there is a better chance to understand whether the information is true biased or even false,
To summarize: the world today is much more sophisticated, including the straits and the transmitters of information. In most cases, we cannot receive information directly from the source, which is also not always reliable. To detect if the information seems reliable or to detect lack of information or information biases or even false information.
The seeds of stupidity are found in the democratic "value of equality", which gives the idiot, the mentally ill, the illiterate, the psychopath, an "equal right" in making decisions. Since there are many more such people than people who are both smart, healthy in spirit, both educated and kind-hearted, the immediate result is populism.
A functioning democracy will determine not only a high percentage of blocking for parties, but also and above all a high percentage of blocking for voters.
OK, today's science is also biased in favor of corruption and sloppiness of research in favor of corporations. It's not just the people, the corporations also take part in the foolishness.
Just about every word
So sad and so true...
For a long time I repeat and warn about the spread of ignorance
To the point of making an ever-expanding public infected with abysmal stupidity,
Now the Prime Minister's list is being published, which clarifies and explains
the claim with the help and insistence of arguments and proofs.
It is fitting that everyone who has not yet been blinded and covered up
From the ignorance in the USA he will wake up and act
To heal the lesion...