I do the same.
Maybe the prevalence of depression could be another contributing factor to a predisposition toward conspiracy theories. Even people with reasonable critical faculties who aren’t in a good head-space can be found fixating on strange ideas that bring them some meaning - sometimes with a borderline manic enthusiasm.
If it starts imitating Dan Brown, we’re in serious shit.
And critical thinking can help to mitigate a bit of confirmation bias. So yes, education still matters.
Perhaps—but sometimes authority figures actually are authorities on a subject, and I think I see just as many cases of non-critical thinkers NOT accepting authority figures’ true statements as true.
Well, one guy at least stepped away from the keyboard.
This gentleman… Completely proves your point.
Yes, I’m aware. I have a phd in history, and would be considered an authority figure in my field, but of course, no one takes the humanities seriously anymore. Right wing activists have been tarring certain kinds of authority (such as those that come out of academia) as leftwing, marxist subversion which lacks critical thinking, as opposed to legitimate knowledge production. Since a study of society, history, art, and culture often helps people to think critically about the world, there are less people who are willing to accept particular kinds of critically thinking.
Yes, that was my point. And not just humanities, but science, too, e.g. climate science, evolution, etc.
get out the popcorn, this is about to get interesting
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