Monocle
Member
Yeah this is one of the reasons I won't apologize for being a hardliner against anti-intellectualism and the social and cultural institutions that foster it, e.g. religion and political conservatism. Ignorance has real consequences that affect everyone.
The problem with giving people the freedom to be dumbass anti-science loons is they'll rarely if ever keep the consequences of their poor decisions limited to their homes. How can they? These people vote, they raise children, they influence corporate policy, pass on their ideas to other credulous people, and misspend their personal resources.
Where's the ethical solution? You can't force people not to be stupid. You can't impose education on them. Maybe social engineering and populist manipulation in the vein of Fox News and conservative talk radio is the answer. But that would spawn a whole other set of issues. People need to understand what they're supporting and why. It's much better to have a rational population who feel a civic duty to inoculate themselves against bullshit by staying informed and keeping their critical capacities sharp.
The problem with giving people the freedom to be dumbass anti-science loons is they'll rarely if ever keep the consequences of their poor decisions limited to their homes. How can they? These people vote, they raise children, they influence corporate policy, pass on their ideas to other credulous people, and misspend their personal resources.
Where's the ethical solution? You can't force people not to be stupid. You can't impose education on them. Maybe social engineering and populist manipulation in the vein of Fox News and conservative talk radio is the answer. But that would spawn a whole other set of issues. People need to understand what they're supporting and why. It's much better to have a rational population who feel a civic duty to inoculate themselves against bullshit by staying informed and keeping their critical capacities sharp.