The cult of ignorance, anti-intellectualism and "dumbing down"

Roland

Drew_TNBD said:

Roland said:

Drew_TNBD said: 

Can someone please explain what gripes about housing and resources actually has to do with the topic of the thread - which is anti-intellectualism?

This forum, like any other, provides an opportunity for people to air their ideas, and feel good about themselves. We seek out places where a significant number of people will support and bolster our views to the point where we can feel secure that what we say must be true because so many people agree.  So given an opportunity many of us, and I'm as guilty as anyone else, will use a thread to air some of our favourite topics, even if they are no directly relevant to the thread.

Which is a pretty good example of ignorance and anti-intellectualism. But more importantly, useless politiking.

... and some of us come for human interaction. Be provocative and you'll get someone to rise to the bait. It's a cheap way of getting a response, but it still makes the author feel good. So insult and favourite rants are always going to turn up in threads.

Chalky

A good example of The Expert is the dementia report on the front page on the BBC.  Headline is "One in three cases of dementia could be prevented if more people looked after their brain health throughout life". 

This sounds like 'more people' could take action to 'look after' their brain health.  Sounds like they should take responsibility for preventing their potential dementia.

The two highest 'factors' are mid-life hearing loss and failure to complete secondary education.  The Lancet article specifically states that there is NO evidence that the use of hearing aids or attending education later in life has any effect on whether the subject will suffer dementia later in life.

So the rather Daily Mail style headline ('its your responsibility') is misleading as there is no proven corrective action that folks can take on the two main factors.

Like many health related Expert opinion, its a case of 'what can I do with that information?'

Chalky

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6905768/why-cant-you-use-phones-on-planes