Humanity has greater access to knowledge and expertise than any previous generation. And yet, people keep doing stupid things.
"Those are the things that we should be really emphasising in education and making sure that people leave school with those skills fully developed."
"This is what results in the sorts of oversimplification, distortions and bullshit that we are now all so familiar with."The Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen argues against being too quick to label others.Sam Roggeveen warns against judging others because of the harmful effects this can have. The term he uses is "rational ignorance" meaning that people only show an interest in matters they feel they can influence. And in many western democracies, Dr Roggeveen says, political parties have run down their supporter base to such an extent that many people no longer feel involved.
"People are quite happy to go around accusing their fellow citizens of irrationality or stupidity or incompetence, and this creates a very bad political atmosphere," he says."Instead of starting off from the assumption that people are irrational or stupid, I think it actually makes more sense to look at, well, why would somebody want to vote that way, why would somebody believe these things?"Swedish academic Mats Alvesson says more critical reflection is what's required.
"It's troublesome … to think for yourself, so it's much easier just to follow what others are doing," he says."Often it's a matter of cultures that you just accept and reproduce. And people are easily seduced, easily persuaded about what sounds good."
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