{"id":27379,"date":"2014-08-16T10:59:32","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T15:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=27379"},"modified":"2014-08-16T10:59:32","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T15:59:32","slug":"stupid-people-and-stupid-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2014\/08\/16\/stupid-people-and-stupid-arguments\/","title":{"rendered":"Stupid people and stupid arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Megan McArdle<\/a> on the phenomenon of dismissing other people as “stupid”:<\/p>\n

Ultimately, calling people stupid is simply a performance for the fellow travelers in your audience. It\u2019s a way that we can all come together and agree that we don\u2019t have to engage with some argument, because the person making it is a bovine lackwit without the basic intellectual equipment to come in out of the rain. So the first message it sends — \u201cdon\u2019t listen to opposing arguments\u201d — is a stupid message that is hardly going to make anyone smarter.<\/p>\n

The second message it sends is even worse: \u201cIf he\u2019s stupid, then we, who disagree with him, are the opposite of stupid, and can rest steady in the assurance of our cognitive superiority.\u201d Feeding your own arrogance is an expansive, satisfying feeling. It is also the feeling of you getting stupider.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m always fascinated by the number of people who proudly build columns, tweets, blog posts or Facebook posts around the same core statement: \u201cI don\u2019t understand how anyone could (oppose legal abortion\/support a carbon tax\/sympathize with the Palestinians over the Israelis\/want to privatize Social Security\/insert your pet issue here).” It\u2019s such an interesting statement, because it has three layers of meaning.<\/p>\n

The first layer is the literal meaning of the words: I lack the knowledge and understanding to figure this out<\/em>. But the second, intended meaning is the opposite: I am such a superior moral being that I cannot even imagine the cognitive errors or moral turpitude that could lead someone to such obviously wrong conclusions<\/em>. And yet, the third, true meaning is actually more like the first: I lack the empathy, moral imagination or analytical skills to attempt even a basic understanding of the people who disagree with me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In short, \u201cI\u2019m stupid.\u201d Something that few people would ever post so starkly on their Facebook<\/em> feeds. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Megan McArdle on the phenomenon of dismissing other people as “stupid”: Ultimately, calling people stupid is simply a performance for the fellow travelers in your audience. It\u2019s a way that we can all come together and agree that we don\u2019t have to engage with some argument, because the person making it is a bovine lackwit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[391,593],"class_list":["post-27379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","tag-facebook","tag-socialmedia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-77B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27380,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27379\/revisions\/27380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}