# Where Countries Are Tinderboxes and Facebook Is a Match

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-countries-are-tinderboxes-and-facebook-is-a-match/812882>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 22, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-countries-are-tinderboxes-and-facebook-is-a-match/812882 "2018-04-22T00:13:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-countries-are-tinderboxes-and-facebook-is-a-match/812882/21 "2018-04-25T10:57:00Z")

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> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Not everybody is that intelligent and/or educated. There are people whose main source of news is Facebook memes. They think that the Congress stole $X Trillion from Social Security, they think that the US spends $900 billion per year on “illegals”. They believe all kinds of stupid shit and they vote on these appeals to their gullibility, ignorance, and bigotry. Either we tame this beast or democracy dies.

But those people weren’t made that way by facebook, nor is facebook their only source of idiocy. I’ve seen my Idiot Aunt encounter the latest piece of political idiocy from her people with disdain… then I’ve seen her, just a few weeks later, repeat it as if it was the kind of thing everybody learns in kindergarten. The piece of idiocy came from the TV in that case. I’ve seen similar pieces of idiocy in magazines, newspapers, whatsapp, and encountered them at the grocery store.

And it often is idiocy: it’s not that people don’t have brains, it’s that using said brains would be tiring. Much easier to let whomever can come up with the most scandalous thing decide for you.

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**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-countries-are-tinderboxes-and-facebook-is-a-match/812882/22 "2018-04-25T11:02:12Z")

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> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> I’ll believe to my dying day that Facebook got the UK out of the EU and put Dumb Donald in the White House. Politicians and public figures are not going to rein it in when the ones in power are the ones that benefitted from the misinformation that spreads like wildfire on Facebook.

And get off my lawn too, amirite?  
😉

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