05-04-2011, 10:51 PM
The topic came up at lunch today when I put the silly IT joke of rm -rf /bin/.laden up on a white board. My director (so 2 levels above me, my bosses boss) said "This whole thing is just a stupid political move by Obama. Bin Laden isn't dead, he just wanted to be able to mark off the check box on his campaign promises."
I work with some highly educated people, since I work at an engineering university, in the Information Technology department. It's odd in that most of them are rabid Republicans and many are Tea Party activists (it's more normal for universities to be staffed by more liberal leaning folks). Many of them love Fox News, and I've had conversations that had to explain that, no there won't be "death panels" here is the relevant section in the bill that explains that the insurance would cover end of life counseling that quite a few private insurance companies cover. Having dealt with the passing of 3 grandparents in the past 2 years I'm very glad they do, because it's a huge help to have that information available to make sound decisions on care. But that became Death Panels!!!!!!!!ZOMG!!!!!! Government will KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I explained what it really was, several of my co-workers were amazed, because they had had relatives receive that counseling before and were also happy to have gotten it.
So it's not just cynicism. The whole winner takes all political battlefield leads people to not want to actually think. I had a co-worker spend 20 minutes complaining about how awful a single payer system would be. He wasn't against government health care, he was a big fan of how Sweden does things, "because there the government collects the money but pays private insurance companies to just simplify the process and make sure everyone is insured." I told him to go google single payer health care systems, because that is what Sweden is.
I know I'm getting off track. But these people aren't morons. They do have critical thinking skills, I've seen those skills in action and applied to work functions. I know someone with a PhD who still thinks the moon landing was faked. People latch onto beliefs and they don't let them go.
Obama is evil, he is ruining the country, you can't believe anything he says.
George Bush is evil, he is ruining the country, you can't believe anything he says.
It takes effort to think. It really does. That is part of why I get paid a decent salary to sit at a computer all day and type, because my job requires me to think a lot. Not everyone can do it. So there are times when I don't want to think, I rely on someone else to tell me an answer. This often works very well for me because I trust the people that are doing the thinking for me. Politics is an area when many people don't want to think, there are many people out there that realize this and they take advantage of it. It's not that these people are stupid. In fact it can be a good strategy to not apply too much energy to an area if spending that energy somewhere else nets you bigger overall gains (be that in happiness, wealth, whatever).
The rule isn't people are stupid, the rule is "People (as a general rule) try to get the most with the least amount of effort." Thinking takes effort. Or I suppose that should just be "People are lazy". Since that says it in fewer words.
So the answer, [wcip]Angel, is yes, his swift burial at sea is problematic here in the US. There are a significant number of people that simply don't believe it. Some are just cynical, some for political views, some because they don't want to think, some because they are angry at the high price of gasoline and other problems in the economy and anyone in power who hasn't fixed this yet must be an idiot and can't be trusted.
I work with some highly educated people, since I work at an engineering university, in the Information Technology department. It's odd in that most of them are rabid Republicans and many are Tea Party activists (it's more normal for universities to be staffed by more liberal leaning folks). Many of them love Fox News, and I've had conversations that had to explain that, no there won't be "death panels" here is the relevant section in the bill that explains that the insurance would cover end of life counseling that quite a few private insurance companies cover. Having dealt with the passing of 3 grandparents in the past 2 years I'm very glad they do, because it's a huge help to have that information available to make sound decisions on care. But that became Death Panels!!!!!!!!ZOMG!!!!!! Government will KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I explained what it really was, several of my co-workers were amazed, because they had had relatives receive that counseling before and were also happy to have gotten it.
So it's not just cynicism. The whole winner takes all political battlefield leads people to not want to actually think. I had a co-worker spend 20 minutes complaining about how awful a single payer system would be. He wasn't against government health care, he was a big fan of how Sweden does things, "because there the government collects the money but pays private insurance companies to just simplify the process and make sure everyone is insured." I told him to go google single payer health care systems, because that is what Sweden is.
I know I'm getting off track. But these people aren't morons. They do have critical thinking skills, I've seen those skills in action and applied to work functions. I know someone with a PhD who still thinks the moon landing was faked. People latch onto beliefs and they don't let them go.
Obama is evil, he is ruining the country, you can't believe anything he says.
George Bush is evil, he is ruining the country, you can't believe anything he says.
It takes effort to think. It really does. That is part of why I get paid a decent salary to sit at a computer all day and type, because my job requires me to think a lot. Not everyone can do it. So there are times when I don't want to think, I rely on someone else to tell me an answer. This often works very well for me because I trust the people that are doing the thinking for me. Politics is an area when many people don't want to think, there are many people out there that realize this and they take advantage of it. It's not that these people are stupid. In fact it can be a good strategy to not apply too much energy to an area if spending that energy somewhere else nets you bigger overall gains (be that in happiness, wealth, whatever).
The rule isn't people are stupid, the rule is "People (as a general rule) try to get the most with the least amount of effort." Thinking takes effort. Or I suppose that should just be "People are lazy". Since that says it in fewer words.
So the answer, [wcip]Angel, is yes, his swift burial at sea is problematic here in the US. There are a significant number of people that simply don't believe it. Some are just cynical, some for political views, some because they don't want to think, some because they are angry at the high price of gasoline and other problems in the economy and anyone in power who hasn't fixed this yet must be an idiot and can't be trusted.
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It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.
It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.