The age of Opinion

One of the most annoying things I can think of involves people speaking very authoritatively on something they know nothing about. They don't know the history, they haven't read anything about the topic and yet they express themselves with great confidence. This is like an open invitation to me to use basic critical thinking to dismantle their talking points.

Perhaps I didn't notice it as much when I was younger, but I have never seen so many ill informed people expound on topics without understanding them. That many gain acclaim doing so just confirms how easily many can be led by the nose.

Many people want their biases confirmed and they will seek out the specific echo chamber which magnifies them which is why these are such dangerous times. Even small cultural issues will be blown out of proportion because there is so much hatred focused in on them. No better example of this than how 1.4% of the population drives some right wingers to sheer insanity.

Perspective and social intelligence are in woefully short supply and we know what they say about opinions.