I had an hour or so to kill yesterday, so I turned off my filter block and decided to browse Facebook aimlessly until it was time to do my thing.
In between amusing cat memes (I'm a member of The Cats Without Gods group) and semi interesting posts from friends and family, I spotted this one video posted by an old acquaintance of mine, with the accompanying line, *"What do you think about this guys?".
From the video thumbnail, it looked like it was about the moon and astronomy, so being the scientific-minded kinda guy I am, I thought I'd give it a watch and then drop my opinion on it.
Roughly 1.7 seconds after starting the video I pondered on two things. The first being, why-oh-why do people make these stupid videos? Also, why can't people watching them tell that they're utter bullshit?
Anyway, I dropped my opinion in the comment section which was something along the lines of 'groan'. I was about to leave it at that when I noticed one of her other friends had also left a comment . . .
*"All i know its closer than you realise,Nasa now are saying they messed up and its within one of our atmospheres"
To which I replied;
"That statement does not make sense."
Which of course it doesn't, even when you realise the 'it's closer' bit is referring to the moon.*
My friend replied;
*"I didn't really get it either A*******. NASA say it's closer [to] what?"
The guy, who we'll call A, then responds with one hilarious and one disturbing post.
"go and do ur research"
I mean what?! Do my research? Into what; how the earth has more than one atmosphere? How the moon is closer to my house than previously thought? I mean, just, what?
I have pondered long and hard as to whether to even post the video he put as his second response, because I don't want to be part responsible for spreading this tripe. In the end I decided against it, my conscience won't allow me to proliferate this kind of stupid.
The video response was basically a redneck in a car, claiming that NASA had admitted (just like the bible said), that the earth was flat and the moon was within our atmosphere.
Let that sink in for a second . . .
I gave the only appropriate response I could think of.
*"Seriously though!?! Some redneck in a car who clearly struggles with the spelling of the word moon, and THAT'S! your research?
I just, I, I - just no words, I can't respond seriously to that. What has the world come to when a community of people with Phds, and a lifetime of research, sitting on top of centuries of scientific study, are overlooked for a redneck in a car?
THE WORLD HAS GONE FUCKING CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
I moused over A's avatar, and saw that he has a picture of him and a couple of friends. They are young, maybe mid-to-late twenties, the generation that will inherit the earth, after oldies like me are gone.
I sunk my head in my hands and wept.
Post Truth Apocalypse
T.S. Elliot told us that the world would not end with a bang, instead it would die with a whimper.
Perhaps this is what he meant, that long before we blew ourselves to smithereens, we would be consumed by the fire of our own stupidity, choking in the thick acrid smog of ignorance.
How have we found ourselves in this situation; what has happened in our recent history to steer our ship into the seas of post truth?
In my mind, this apocalypse was started via the internet and the powers that be. When I use that phrase I'm not talking about some shadowy, deep state Illuminati (the world's worst kept secret society), I'm simply referencing any lobby or special interest group that is trying to argue against overwhelming facts.
If you are trying to counter an argument that is based in truth and fact, then you yourself cannot use the very same facts to make your point.
For instance, if you were trying to convince the world that the sun was not in fact a huge ball of helium and hydrogen gas, but was in all actuality a chunk of ice. You would be hard pushed to use scientific facts to prove that to me.
The best way to prove the sun is a ball of ice is to first discredit any science that has proved it is a huge hydrogen-burning fusion reactor. The best way to discredit science, is to go after the scientists, and the best way to do that, is to attack their credibility.
The most efficient way to destroy credibility, is to argue the existence of it in the first place. You see, if there is no such thing as credibility, then everyone's opinion is equally valid.
Whether you're a physicist who has been studying a particular specialist branch for 30 years, or a redneck in a car, your opinion on anything and everything is equally valid.
Tactics Reborn
In the 1960s, right through to the 1990s the tobacco industry claimed that the scientific reports that stated smoking was bad for you, were absolute rubbish.
They did this by paying off scientists and doctors (my aunt's doctor in 1967 advised she start smoking for her stress!) and producing their own "research" to prove that smoking is not only fine, but good for you.
However the tobacco industry didn't have the internet to help them out, so the general truth that smoking is bad for you was never really seriously challenged, because people believed experts and still had some semblance of common sense.
If we fast forward to modern day, we see the big oil & gas companies are using the same tactics, but this time instead of tobacco, they are telling us that burning fossil fuels at an ever-increasing rate is completely fine.
Now though, they have a new weapon to spread their disinformation and lies. Via the internet they have created an environment whereby there are no experts and thus nobody really knows about climate change.
I saw a microcosm of this the other day as I read an exchange between two people on a business forum I frequent.
The conversation pattern went a little something like this:
Person 1: "Climate change is real, 97% of climate scientists agree, here's a link to some research" (LINK to peer reviewed research)
Person 2: "It is not real, that link you sent me is just an opinion. Look here's a link to some other research" with a different opinion (LINK to dubious paper written by someone with zero scientific credentials).
Person 1: "That person has absolutely no credibility whatsoever. How can you compare that to the body of work I linked you to?"
Person 2: "You have just decided to subscribe to one particular opinion, when in fact they are both as valid as each other."
... and so on.
If We Don't Beat Them, We'll Have To Join Them
So what can be done? How do we beat the stupid? Because if we don't, we'll simply all have to hammer crayons up our noses and join the rest of the idiots. Because I'm not sure it is possible to stay sane whilst watching the world kill it self through human idiocy.
Insanity is surely the destiny that lies in wait for any rational human being who views the current intellectual landscape. If I didn't have a child maybe I wouldn't care, perhaps I'd be content in the knowledge that at least I wouldn't suffer this torture forever . . .
Another thought has just struck me. Maybe God is real and I am actually in hell, and my punishment is watching everyone around me go slowly insane, until I simply decide to join them, then woosh, reset, let's go again!
Hmm, maybe not, I learned a long time ago that any theory that has solipsism at its root, should almost definitely be dismissed.
So if I'm not in hell, then we are back to square one. I'm on a planet that is slowly being consumed by the stupidity of its dominant species. We are all falling back to an intellectual zeroing out, the message is being shouted from the rooftops of the internet. It is loud and clear;
whether you are Stephen Hawkins or a redneck in a car, you can contribute equally to the human race.
By the way, the original facebook video mentioned above claimed the moon was hollow and artificial.
Maybe the only solution is to do what the fictional news anchor Howard Beale does at the end of the film, Network. To open our windows and just shout at the top of our voices:
I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!
WHAT DO YOU THINK? ARE WE GOING TO KILL OURSELVES WITH STUPID OR DOES THE INTERNET SIMPLY MAGNIFY ABSURDITY? OR PERHAPS YOU AGREE WITH REDNECK IN A CAR, AND DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO EXPERT OPINION?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!