An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Monday, September 14, 2015
Jonathan Larson — Weapons-grade ignorance
Mark Chapman's The Weaponization of Ignorance: The West’s Go-To Experts
Sums it up. How does anyone think that dumb can be successful?
The problem is two-fold: 1) Appealing to authority sort-of-argument (a fallacy, but a lot of people is gullible to this type of argument). Mindless drones will believe what they say because they are "experts" regardless of their ulterior motivations or personal believes (they are human, so not some sort of infallible expert robots). 2) The exaltation of the 'ignorance culture': being a fool is cool, being smart is 'nerdy'. This means that you gotta trust your intellectual leaders, the so-called 'experts'.
This culture ignorance is celebrated and the mindless drone masses blindly follow their respective tribe 'experts' telling them what to think and what is right or not, may not they end up being nerds!
Now turn your brain off and turn on the TV or go read that expert Twitter without any critical mind.
One big problem in the US is that the news business has turned away from investigative reporting to entertainment, under the influence of Rupert Murdoch's highly successful business model against which other media firms must compete. The result has been a dumbing down of America.
I don't want to wax over past glories of the news business because it always represented the interests of the leisure class, but it was miles better than the drivel now, where the best news and commentary has recently been delivered by comedians like Stewart and Colbert. Now that they are moving on, hopefully they will be replaced. And, of course, they are not going away completely. But those spots need to be filled.
The Financial sector now deliver their own 24/7 news for the purpose of creating churn and fleecing the unwary. This has only been a thing for the last 15 years.
Mindless ideological brainwashing for the poor buggers "getting ahead" by gambling their life savings. Guaranteed devoid of any facts.
The problem is two-fold:
ReplyDelete1) Appealing to authority sort-of-argument (a fallacy, but a lot of people is gullible to this type of argument). Mindless drones will believe what they say because they are "experts" regardless of their ulterior motivations or personal believes (they are human, so not some sort of infallible expert robots).
2) The exaltation of the 'ignorance culture': being a fool is cool, being smart is 'nerdy'. This means that you gotta trust your intellectual leaders, the so-called 'experts'.
This culture ignorance is celebrated and the mindless drone masses blindly follow their respective tribe 'experts' telling them what to think and what is right or not, may not they end up being nerds!
Now turn your brain off and turn on the TV or go read that expert Twitter without any critical mind.
One big problem in the US is that the news business has turned away from investigative reporting to entertainment, under the influence of Rupert Murdoch's highly successful business model against which other media firms must compete. The result has been a dumbing down of America.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to wax over past glories of the news business because it always represented the interests of the leisure class, but it was miles better than the drivel now, where the best news and commentary has recently been delivered by comedians like Stewart and Colbert. Now that they are moving on, hopefully they will be replaced. And, of course, they are not going away completely. But those spots need to be filled.
The Financial sector now deliver their own 24/7 news for the purpose of creating churn and fleecing the unwary. This has only been a thing for the last 15 years.
ReplyDeleteMindless ideological brainwashing for the poor buggers "getting ahead" by gambling their life savings. Guaranteed devoid of any facts.