<bit of a long rant, here!>
Moon landing deniers
Flat earthers
9/11 truthers
The “Socialism is Nifty” crowd.
(For convenience, here referred to simply as “Fools”)
Today I made the mistake of reading some of the comments on episode 3 of the “What we saw,” video. I say “mistake” because it almost always is a mistake to bother reading YouTube comments – but in this case it led to a small epiphany. This can’t be an original argument, but it is new to me.
The reason I grow so frustrated with these Fools isn’t because they are stupid. It isn’t even because of the horror at the idea they are breeding and voting, although it is horrifying. What gets to me, I now realize, is the laziness.
Here in the real world if I don’t understand something it is up to me to figure it out. I can seek help. I can ask for guidance. But ultimately it is up to me to do the reading, studying, investigating, etc. Or on the other hand, I have the choice of not understanding that thing and living in a state of ignorance. Ignorance isn’t a bad thing – every human is ignorant about 99% of things. We choose the things that are important or interest us and focus on that with our limited time. But if I choose to remain ignorant about a topic, be it economics, the Apollo program, the horrors of socialism, or trends of ladies fashion in Paris from 1745-1800, it is a good idea to keep my mouth shut about that topic.
“Fools,” however, are lazy. They are ignorant, true. But instead of putting in the required effort to fix that state, they simply whine, “explain it to me!” They are NOT stuck at the level of a child. If you explain something to a curious child they will understand it and begin interacting with you. “Well, how about this … what if we do that … Wow, and if this happens …” Such children are learning and exploring the world.
“Fools,” see something they don’t understand and instead of investigating it they proclaim that it can’t be true because they don’t understand it. And there they sit, permanently, refusing to do the simple investigation any child is capable of. Frustratingly, for everyone else, they proceed to defend their own ignorance by aggressively refusing to investigate or study the topic.
Consider: Isn’t every single objection or argument put forward by “Fools,” a version of, “I don’t understand this – explain it!” It is frequently followed by, “you can’t explain it, so I’m right!” And of course, when you do explain it – playing their game of forcing YOU to do the work for them – they profess that it can’t be correct because … they don’t understand it. Or they simply move on to another thing they don’t understand about the topic – since if they don’t understand EVERY bit of it, it must not be true.
The Apollo landings are thus a perfect breeding ground for such “Fools.” The more complex the issue the better for such people. It took thousands of the smartest engineers and scientists on the planet to make Apollo work, along with hundreds of thousands of skilled people contributing their own great or small efforts. It is not possible for ANY one person to understand EVERY detail. That’s why it wasn’t accomplished by one guy, but took thousands.
An adult with a functioning brain and willingness to work in the real world – i.e. not a “Fool” – will accept that some aspects of Apollo were figured out by smart people, but he doesn’t understand the details. If he is interested he can do the work and check into it. But he will NOT say, “Because I don’t understand much about TV technology then it is impossible for the landing to have been broadcast to the world in 1969.”
The “Fool,” says, “I don’t understand so it didn’t happen.” Full. Stop. No curiosity, no investigation. No. Work.
Lazy.
When we try to explain something to them it never, ever works. Because they are lazy. They are not interested in understanding. They are happy living in ignorance. They are comfortable in it. They get angry and defensive when you explain things to them. It makes them uncomfortable.
In the comments I was reading today, Bill specifically replied to one of these guys. (He does it for his own reason’s that he’s explained – knock yourself out, guy!) The reply was, paraphrasing, “Why so angry, Bill? I must have hit a nerve! Gee, I was only asking a question…” But that’s just it. He wasn’t “asking a question.” That implies he was looking for an answer. He was comfortable in his ignorance. He was literally ON a video where a very smart guy was spoon-feeding him the information, and still shouting his own ignorance. He wasn’t asking a question, he was proclaiming “I don’t understand this,” and then shoving his fingers in his ears while yelling “Nanananananana!”
Real questions are valid. As an example, on such a video, I might say, “I’m interested in the video transmission. How was it done from such a vast distance with that technology? I’ve tried a few searches but it doesn’t seem to lead me to good info. Can anyone point me in the right direction?” From there all sorts of books, articles, video content, etc., would be available to help erase the ignorance. For someone who is willing to put in a little – or a lot – of work.
(If I asked that question at BWDC I might well get a radio engineer to lay out several pages of explanation for me, complete with embedded video and links to further articles!)
Instead, one “question” (different commenter) was along the lines of, “How could they have gotten all the power to transmit TV?” Note the comfortable ignorance. He “knows” that transmitting TV takes a huge amount of power. Maybe he’s heard local TV stations have powerful transmitters. He isn’t asking how much is needed. He is sure they couldn’t have done it.
He doesn’t know anything about “TV” transmission. He would probably be surprised to learn that “TV” is transmitted using funky things called “radio waves.” And he probably made the comment on his Android phone, comfortably, even blissfully, ignorant of how his typing got from his phone to YouTube.
Should I try to explain radio waves, transmission power levels, directional antennas, frequencies, or ANYTHING related to such a topic? Would it do any good to discuss how much power was available on the Apollo missions, vs. how much is used by communication satellites 26k miles away, and how that little dish on his roof can pull in an HD picture from orbit?
He’s not asking a question. He’s shouting his ignorance. He is sitting at a computer (or on his phone, or tablet, whatever). He quite literally has access to the sum total of human knowledge. He is USING wireless technology. He could study. He could type in a few searches and begin wiping out his own ignorance. He refuses. Instead he pouts to the world, “I don’t understand!”
Lazy.
So, now I’m all morose about the fact that these Fools live like this, and they are out in the world living, breeding, voting and often demanding I pay for them to live in comfortable ignorance.
I’ve got no answer to the problem. Only the conclusion that they don’t want answers.
But I did just spend a bit of my day typing this out, working to try to understand what goes on in their brains. It was an uncomfortable process. But getting out of our comfort zone is how we learn.
I began this with the point that this can’t be an original idea. I’m sure I’ve heard it – but it never really sank in. The realization, the understanding and acceptance of this, is pretty depressing.
2 replies on “Fools. Lazy Fools.”
“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.” ~ Proverbs 1:22
I agree with you on every count. The only problem is, when you said, “Fools,” see something they don’t understand and instead of investigating it they proclaim that it can’t be true because they don’t understand it”, you left out a special class of fool — the gullible fool. This is the fool who doesn’t understand, yet believes every word of someone else who is just as clueless, and when challenged, will choose to die on that hill. As proof of my assertion, I offer you two words — Russian Collusion…