Daughter of two lifelong journalists here, I grew up with the concepts of Follow the Money, and Never Assume. I believe that discernment of the quality of sources is key to following the path of diminishing ignorance.
I recently got drawn into an inane discussion of the study recently publicized by the NY Times which showed that ordinary house cats killed a vastly larger number of small wild animals and birds than anyone previously estimated. The inane part was that these cat lovers refused to believe the study. They called it “junk science” simply because they didn’t like the conclusion. Trying to get any of them to tell me what was junk about the science quickly fell into one of those “they’re all just in it for the money, science doesn’t prove anything” crevasses.
There is no knowledge that is absolutely incontrovertible in all times and places, but there is excellent-quality knowledge (the majority of peer-reviewed published studies) and there is crap-quality (the friend of a facebook friend who reposts a drivelquote misattributed to Bill Cosby). And everything in between.
Despite loathing Heinlein, I have always had a fondness for his professional Fair Witness conceit: when an FW is asked to describe the color of a house, she responds, “It’s white on this side.”
Thanks for all your advice, Jragon. I was just wondering, you saw me get beat up (metaphorically) trying to argue TaeKwonDo with Clothahump? Because I didn’t see you posting. Were you just secretly watching? :dubious:
I wanted to say something about the experience bit. I know when you’re young and people say “experience” you’re kind of like “bullshit”. But it really makes a difference. I never believed it until I started internalizing it myself. You realize, most of all, what matters and what doesn’t matter, and you realize how fleeting life really is.
To start, ignorance isn’t evil. It’s natural and we’re all ignorant of many more things than we know. Willful ignorance draws a greater distinction and is a bigger problem.
Anyway,
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[li]Listen more than you speak and fact-check what you think you know (emphasis on that last part, because it’s too often that people repeat what they’ve heard, because it sounded agreeable at the time).[/li][/ul]
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[li]Be slow to judge and empathetic. Logic isn’t always intuitive or the best approach, but balance is usually the key.[/li][/ul]
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[li]Humbly ask questions and review the responses to those questions, preferably with a reputable source. Don’t speak as an authority on something you don’t know.[/li][/ul]
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[li]Listen to ideas and opinions which contrast yours. Though you may not like or agree with them, this is important. Too many people get defensive and/or resistant, which clouds the learning experience. Not every difference of ideas and/or opinions should be polarized as right or wrong.[/li][/ul]
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[li]A fair portion of communication is often misinterpreted. Seek to properly understand and try to communicate as effectively as possible.[/li][/ul]
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[li]Reflection…try to reflect, as it’s vital to the process.[/li][/ul]
God, that’s the truth. A little learning is a dangerous thing and all that. I used to scoff retroactively at teachers that warned against online sources. I would think “P’shaw. You’re thinking about the early 90’s. It’s a whole new world out there now. I couldn’t find a geocities site even if I wanted to.” Then I realized that a lot of people who couldn’t tell the difference between a good cite and a bad site. More disturbingly, people were hinging entire world views off those sites. Facebook has illuminated this to a horrifying degree.
Just off newsfeed from the last couple of hours:
1 - Margarine is 95% plastic. Eating margarine will turn you plastic.
2 - Shaming Rihanna does nothing for the young women of our society.
3 - DC is the infidelity capital of the world.
4 - Fluoride in our drinking water is lowering IQ.
5 - Obama is removing all military leaders from command if they will not fire upon US citizens.
Not to mention all the other nutjobs out there like Jenny McCarthy claiming that vaccines cause autism.
Oh, and I just visited Bullshido.net. I wasn’t expecting much but that was severely underwhelming. I’m surprised that Clothahump gave it the acknowledgement that he did.
Anonymous User: ** I have not read any of your posts other than this thread, but I think this might help: many years ago when I first visited online discussions, I started out believing that everyone expected me respond to every conversation or comment. I thought I would offend people by not replying, so I conscientiously posted all over the place. Finally someone told me that what I was doing was rude, that I should quiet down and observe (read) and get to know the community – then only post when I had something to contribute. I felt so ashamed when I learned this, but I’m still really thankful that someone understood what I was doing and set me straight.
I admire you for starting this particular thread in order to better understand your role in this community.
