I have noticed that alot of people think the majority of people are stupid based on the things they read online or maybe even experience in real life but I think that there is better explanation than just assuming people are stupid.
A common example people bring up to show that other people are stupid is mentioning how a lot of people believe in conspiracy theories ( such as Qanon or Flat earth) and point out how they are objectively false therefore the people that believe it are stupid.
However when you examine these beliefs in more depth there is obviously some amount of internal logic that is used to justify these beliefs to themselves and others in the group.
You can go to flat earthers forum and they can give huge amounts of “evidence” about how light shouldn’t be visible after 50 kms if the earth was round or how in Qanon there are probably people who have whole boards detailed with connections between how and where democrats participate in satanic rituals but my point is that all conspiracy theories tend to form one cohesive narrative like a collective story that are building.
To be able to make a story that is this detailed it definitely required some amount of forethought and reasoning to make it so everyone in the group reaches the same collective understanding.
This then might lead you to ask why are people susceptible to these ideas and what makes them stick. Well I think that it boils down to three different things.
- Our collective feeling that things aren’t going well
- Our general distrust in current authorities
- Our collective belief that an authority is good/necessary
When you look at how people tend to be influenced into accepting these beliefs it also follows this same general pattern.
- People feel that some part of their life isn’t going well and that current institutions aren’t helping them anymore.
- A guru/influencer shows up and offers advice (sometimes good advice) to fix their problem
- People then start trusting these gurus/influencers and seeing them as authorities
- Finally these people take what these gurus/influencers say at face value and build internal lore for their community that makes sense to them given that they accept what the new authority says as fact.
If you want to tackle the root of what makes people susceptible to these ideas you have to tackle those three things or else people will fall into those same traps just with different authorities saying different things.
Also as a semi-related point there are a million and one things that an individual can choose to focus on and become knowledgable about so whilst some people spend that mental capacity on understanding tech or politics others spend that mental capacity on flat earth theory or UFOs.
Main point:
So all of this is to say I think that people aren’t stupid and that we should not treat them as they are such instead if we understand that they are capable of complex reason but they are starting with different base knowledge it’ll be easier to empathize with others. Also if we want society to be less susceptible to this we need to fix one or all of the three things I mentioned that makes us susceptible.
Since this was a post about acknowledging the good in others and how that should be thought about more I intentionally withheld my beliefs on how I personally deal with those people, but in reality I am not against intentionally disengaging and avoiding those people in certain scenarios. What I am trying to get across is that the animosity shown towards them (even though it can be justified) is making the problem worse not better. And strategic empathy can make a lot of difference.
FYI: yes I belong to atleast one of those hated groups
Edit: removed unecessary period.
It doesn’t matter if you treat people who believe in conspiracies with decency because they will imagine fake slights against you and use them to justify their hate anyways.
And I fundamentally disagree that people are smart generally anyways. Just because they can parrot a flawed line of reasoning they read online doesn’t make them smart. Especially when those lines of logic fall apart when challenged and cause their believers to cling even tighter
Only if you find a person for whom empathy also works. Otherwise, is lost effort.
And if you belong to a hated group, then you’re willingly turning yourself into a martyr. In spite of all the bullshit religions teach about it, that’s not something good.
Start with who you can and work from there.
This falls into basically the same trap that climate change has been in for decades. PR campaign to make individual people feel bad about a problem that is ultimately created and made worse by the very small number of people in power. Nothing we can do will make it better. The people in power are actively trying to make it worse, because it helps them strengthen their power. But convince the individuals at the bottom that it is their fault and that they can fix it if they just wanted to, and suddenly none of the focus is on the real problem.
Those people are stupid. It is getting worse. That is how the powerful want all of us to be.
I can’t tell if you are agreeing or disagreeing with my previous comment but as for the power structures I view people that have these beliefs as the people that are at the bottom and that people that benefit from these beliefs (CEOs, Governments, etc.) as people at the top.
Therefore the action that people can be taking to make things better is building bridges with the people at the bottom in smart and targeted ways.