alt Hacker NewsAll you did was describe the fact that people who present as intelligent aren’t actually intelligent
I’m very well aware of a lot of people who are not subject to propaganda - you wouldn’t consider them particularly “fun “to be around because usually they are dedicated and focused on something that they actually believe in like being a monk
I know literally zero monks especially in the tibetan tradition that cannot clock propaganda immediately - you could make a strong argument that Buddhism itself is propaganda and I would actually largely concur with you there in the broad sense however in the sense that we’re describing it is a context that you find yourself overwhelmed by
Oh and then if you actually are that smart then you would have read the following quote:
“ If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.”
Your bar for “smart people” is probably way lower than it should be if you include people who can’t discriminate between measurable repeatible data and propaganda
https://marktwainstudies.com/the-apocryphal-twain/if-you-don...
Replies
>All you did was describe the fact that people who present as intelligent aren’t actually intelligent
This is false.
> I’m very well aware of a lot of people who are not subject to propaganda ... [for example] a monk
This supports my point. Monks are not known for trying to "stay informed" the way many people (yes, including intelligent people) do.
> it should be if you include people who can’t discriminate between measurable repeatible data and propaganda
You severely underestimate the cost and effort involved in finding and processing "measurable repeatable data". In fact, for most politically important issues such don't exist, be it for reasons of impossible or insufficient repeatability or lack of access to the few places that may have it.
The vast majority of smart people cannot have access to, or process such data, in amount of time that doesn't risk their existence.
Besides, historical repeatability is kind of a moot point, history doesn't really repeat although farces are common.
> I know literally zero monks especially in the tibetan tradition that cannot clock propaganda immediately
That only shows that you don't quite have an idea how ubiquitous propaganda is, and you accept a lot of it as truth.
> you could make a strong argument that Buddhism itself is propaganda
OK, so they don't "clock propaganda immediately". Moreover, the whole of Buddhism isn't propaganda, the world is quite complicated compared to the abilities of the individual human mind, the long and arduous history of science should tell you that much.
'stevenwoo' below wrote something you might benefit from:
"the post hoc analysis in Jacques Ellul’s book Propaganda makes several compelling arguments that propaganda is omnipresent and difficult for the great part of public to counter and misplaced confidence in one’s own judgment is often the Achilles heel that allows propaganda to insinuate itself in one’s brain."
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47663236