Good column. I’ve been saying this since I first became aware of the whole manufactured “mask controversy”. Stupid people have a right to their opinions; it doesn’t make their opinions right. But they think it does, because… They’re stupid.
I have trouble distinguishing between someone who is stupid, ignorant, delusional, brainwashed, or some combination of these.
I’ve worked with microprocessor design engineers (with masters degrees from top universities). Some were evangelical christians that didn’t believe in evolution and thought the earth was about 6,000 years old.
I gave up in believing in a god when I was 12. There was no science to prove the existence of a supreme being. So, i’m an atheist, as defined as someone who does not have a belief in a god (using the common definition “supreme being”).
So, how should I characterize someone who does believe in one or more of the 2,000+ gods in the various religions across the world? Since a person’s religious belief is principally determined by the religion of their parents, what is the right characterization? brainwashed? delusional?
When science doesn’t matter? When facts don’t matter? What do we do? Somehow we need to persuade enough people to not give us 4 more years of president Voldemort.
I get what you're saying but I'm being practical in this piece and defining stupidity narrowly. Wearing a mask is good. Not wearing one is bad. Refusing to wear one is stupid.
What do you suppose Mr. Stoehr would call the actions of Anthony Fauci:
a) wearing a mask while throwing the first pitch at a baseball game into the ground but
b) at the same game not wearing a mask while sitting cheek by jowl between two people, apparently laughing, pumping out any Wuhan flu virus he may have into the air.
Would Mr. Stoehr call Mr. Fauci's actions 'stupid'? Not likely; Mr. Fauci has Liberal Bigot Privilege, as does the press in general. He also knows the likely consequences of doing so:
a) being whipped into line by peers or
b) being canned (hi, Jim Bennet!)
Much better to smugly call others, with much smaller platforms to defend themselves, "stupid" and well the warm glow of smugness, smugness that prevents Mr. Stoehr from even realizing, let alone acknowledging, the serious issue of public suspicion of the press in general
Better to attempt to understand how this virus actually operates rather than submit to the aggressive and belligerent Will to Ignorance that the mask avoiders demonstrate.
Fauci's mistake of not wearing the mask at the baseball game should be called out. It WAS stupid. If he's going to be one of our leading public health care officials, he should follow his own advice.
But using Fauci's one-time hypocrisy to ignore the mountains of Trump's and others' garbage who repeatedly claimed the virus "will just go away" and took no preventative action when the evidence screamed otherwise is truly brain-meltingly stupid. And to call out conservatives again for carpet bombing everyone else with idiocy when that idiocy literally kills people is somehow out of bounds.
Frankly, I don't care how people perceive what the press is doing because the real issue is stopping the pandemic. It's not smugness that John Stoehr is promoting but self-protection and protection of the country. A major way to overcome the virus is literally in/on our faces but we're supposed to cater to a bunch of nuts who "just know masks don't work". In reality they don't know what they're talking about and the result is thousands of dead Americans and a crashed economy.
Just because someone has an opinion about something doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. I've witnessed countless people destroy their health, finances, and relationships because they weren't too bright or knowledgeable but just knew they were smarter than "them experts". The usual outcome has been me and others picking up the debris of their wrecked lives or in some cases making funeral arrangements because these Dunning-Kruger geniuses screwed themselves. In the end, those of us who are being subjected to the Will to Ignorance are going to be the same ones doing the hard work to overcome the pandemic and wade through the tsunami of stupidity while listening to the incessant whines of the foolish and the ignorant who perpetuate the very chaos they complain about.
You want an open economy and a minimized pandemic? Wear a freaking mask and stop moaning about the press, John Stoehr, and anybody else who's simply doing the smart and simple thing of wearing a mask.
Social media platforms have deliberately enabled the voices of the uninformed to aggregate and not only endanger our lives but our liberties. I would like to believe that there are more of us....those who grapple with often incomplete or contradictory information and who use critical thinking and are guided by values towards making informed decisions, but I no longer know if I can trust that an informed citizenry will prevail.
Good column. I’ve been saying this since I first became aware of the whole manufactured “mask controversy”. Stupid people have a right to their opinions; it doesn’t make their opinions right. But they think it does, because… They’re stupid.
I have trouble distinguishing between someone who is stupid, ignorant, delusional, brainwashed, or some combination of these.
I’ve worked with microprocessor design engineers (with masters degrees from top universities). Some were evangelical christians that didn’t believe in evolution and thought the earth was about 6,000 years old.
I gave up in believing in a god when I was 12. There was no science to prove the existence of a supreme being. So, i’m an atheist, as defined as someone who does not have a belief in a god (using the common definition “supreme being”).
So, how should I characterize someone who does believe in one or more of the 2,000+ gods in the various religions across the world? Since a person’s religious belief is principally determined by the religion of their parents, what is the right characterization? brainwashed? delusional?
When science doesn’t matter? When facts don’t matter? What do we do? Somehow we need to persuade enough people to not give us 4 more years of president Voldemort.
I get what you're saying but I'm being practical in this piece and defining stupidity narrowly. Wearing a mask is good. Not wearing one is bad. Refusing to wear one is stupid.
What do you suppose Mr. Stoehr would call the actions of Anthony Fauci:
a) wearing a mask while throwing the first pitch at a baseball game into the ground but
b) at the same game not wearing a mask while sitting cheek by jowl between two people, apparently laughing, pumping out any Wuhan flu virus he may have into the air.
Would Mr. Stoehr call Mr. Fauci's actions 'stupid'? Not likely; Mr. Fauci has Liberal Bigot Privilege, as does the press in general. He also knows the likely consequences of doing so:
a) being whipped into line by peers or
b) being canned (hi, Jim Bennet!)
Much better to smugly call others, with much smaller platforms to defend themselves, "stupid" and well the warm glow of smugness, smugness that prevents Mr. Stoehr from even realizing, let alone acknowledging, the serious issue of public suspicion of the press in general
Better to attempt to understand how this virus actually operates rather than submit to the aggressive and belligerent Will to Ignorance that the mask avoiders demonstrate.
Fauci's mistake of not wearing the mask at the baseball game should be called out. It WAS stupid. If he's going to be one of our leading public health care officials, he should follow his own advice.
But using Fauci's one-time hypocrisy to ignore the mountains of Trump's and others' garbage who repeatedly claimed the virus "will just go away" and took no preventative action when the evidence screamed otherwise is truly brain-meltingly stupid. And to call out conservatives again for carpet bombing everyone else with idiocy when that idiocy literally kills people is somehow out of bounds.
Frankly, I don't care how people perceive what the press is doing because the real issue is stopping the pandemic. It's not smugness that John Stoehr is promoting but self-protection and protection of the country. A major way to overcome the virus is literally in/on our faces but we're supposed to cater to a bunch of nuts who "just know masks don't work". In reality they don't know what they're talking about and the result is thousands of dead Americans and a crashed economy.
Just because someone has an opinion about something doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. I've witnessed countless people destroy their health, finances, and relationships because they weren't too bright or knowledgeable but just knew they were smarter than "them experts". The usual outcome has been me and others picking up the debris of their wrecked lives or in some cases making funeral arrangements because these Dunning-Kruger geniuses screwed themselves. In the end, those of us who are being subjected to the Will to Ignorance are going to be the same ones doing the hard work to overcome the pandemic and wade through the tsunami of stupidity while listening to the incessant whines of the foolish and the ignorant who perpetuate the very chaos they complain about.
You want an open economy and a minimized pandemic? Wear a freaking mask and stop moaning about the press, John Stoehr, and anybody else who's simply doing the smart and simple thing of wearing a mask.
https://twitter.com/johnastoehr/status/1288833459994099713?s=20
Social media platforms have deliberately enabled the voices of the uninformed to aggregate and not only endanger our lives but our liberties. I would like to believe that there are more of us....those who grapple with often incomplete or contradictory information and who use critical thinking and are guided by values towards making informed decisions, but I no longer know if I can trust that an informed citizenry will prevail.
You comment so often and comment so well why not become a member of the Board?!
This coupon saves you 40% off the monthly price. That's less than $1 a week for a year.
https://stoehr.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=f3e39430
I hope you'll join us! JS