LogFAQs > #971907362

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Based on years of life experience, I tend to strongly disagree with this.

People certainly SEEM stupider than they used to, but I still say it's society (and the internet). There used to be expectations of citizens that you would remain informed, act 'appropriately', and work towards some common good. There were, of course, significant downsides to that which effectively marginalized people who didn't fit in, but the upsides were a strong social fabric/purpose for the majority that did fit in.

Today people are just as intelligent as individuals, but there's little real pressure to apply that intelligence towards remaining informed or working together for causes. On the contrary, there's a lot of pressure to doubt official narratives and "think for yourself" (along with a ton more misinformation). A large chunk of society has NEVER been well-qualified to "think for themselves", although it wasn't as large of a problem prior to the internet when there were only a few relatively mainstream news sources. That's a much bigger problem now. The most emotional arguments are those that are winning majorities: not logical arguments. Thus MTG.