Bias and stupidity

For me one of the main trademarks of human stupidity is the ability of some people to religiously adhere to confirmation bias. In other words they will look for evidence (or ignore contrary evidence) of what they believe in advance rather than let research convince them of the truth.

This problem is independent of IQ and even a college professor is not immune. Look no further than Jordan Peterson who, for the political far right, is their equivalence of royal intelligentsia. Peterson has half-baked thinking and pontificates on a whole host of issues he knows nothing about (including LGBTQ people of course).  Since his confirmation bias is his mission to eradicate "woke radicalism", it becomes his Achilles heel towards being open to truth.

So you can see how stupidity doesn't play favorites and it's not about low intelligence but the ability to pick and choose what one likes without closely examining everything available; some of which will negate your opinion.

I like to derail people by asking them to tell me very specifically why they believe in something and watching them do so can often be fascinating. If I catch a fallacy in logic it can get heated.

But then I remember Samuel Clemens: "never argue with stupid people for they will drag you to their level and beat you with experience".