Today, kids, I'm going to rant about stupid people, yet again. Or, not necessarily stupid people, just people who don't think too well.1The first type of people are the partisans, those who don't think beyond what they're told. This came up since I've recently been reading a lot of the Daily Kos, a Democratic website devoted to winning at any cost. Now a lot of these people are pretty good thinkers, but the majority are just reactionary. If the Republicans say something, it must be bad, by the virtue2 that the GOP is supporting it. It's thoroughly frustrating to read some of the comments.3 And, unfortunately, it's hard to avoid these people when there's so gosh darn many of the them and our nations espouse democracy.
The next ones I loathe are the sheeple. Those who just think as they're told. A good number of these people start out as malleable children and evolve4 into the partisans. That's what learning to answer a question on a test does as opposed to learning for the sake of learning or expanding the mind. And they don't think beyond what the media says.
Which brings me to the media. This is the worst group. But there's so much to say about this that I can't be bothered to type it all up. Perhaps when I have more spare time. Let's just say that I rue the media slightly less than I loathe politicians and the government.
What started this rant? Well, the inspiration was something I absorbed from the media. I'm not sure if I read it on the interwebs, heard it on CNN, MSNBC or Fox News, or read it in a newspaper (so I can't provide a reference), but it was an opinion by someone about our use of oil.5 They were saying that we should be ashamed at using oil for (solid) plastics when it's so much more valuable to burn. That's just a perfect example of group number 2. Why would oil be better to burn? Once it's burnt, it has no use whatsoever (except to grow things very indirectly), whereas in solid form it's practically indestructible and so reusable (and, I daresay, recyclable). Additionally, it's far, far cheaper to make alternatives to fuel than it is to petro-chemicals of most sorts. This is a perfect example of not thinking through an argument. And it made me mad.
So there you go. Sorry for a half-baked rant. Here, go play some games designed to make you think. The Illinois one is not fun at all, but it is fun being an oil god.
1Full disclosure. I'm not stupid. I'm quite smart, in fact. I'm in the top 5 percentiles for both Mathematical and Verbal tests, and I do quite well analytically, too (but have never been tested aside from essay writing, which was broadly marked and in essay form. So far, I've written 5 essays since leaving high school, so practice may help on that front). I am, I have to admit, smart, and so slightly, ever so slightly, biased against people who judge and don't think things through.6
2I get the irony.
3This may be due to the fact that I prefer the Republicans marginally, but I do get annoyed at similar right wing websites, so I'm going to believe it's the people, not the policies.
4Unless they're creationists, in which case they're set on a path by God himself and so shouldn't deviate from party lines.
5Every medium I use now tends to blend together, mainly because of the sheer volume I use, but also due to the facts that they all report 80% of the same news with different spins.
6Which, quite often, means that I'm biased against myself. But it's OK, I'm Catholic, so I feel guilty about it.
