The Ease Of Decrying The Public

I suspect that if I were to ask random people if they think the state of American politics is absurd, almost all of them, if not every single person, would say that the political climate is ridiculous.  Yet they would probably cite differing, exclusive reasons why they think this, amusingly.  Similarly, I would likely receive almost unanimous agreement if I asked random individuals whether or not most people display little to no rationality.  Again, this is amusing, for the reasons they would claim this would almost certainly differ to a large extent!

Wherever conflicting claims appear, at least one of them is false, and perhaps none of them are correct.  Of course, few people actually know what rationality is, and thus few people even have a right understanding of the only tool that will equip them to distinguish truth from falsity.  And yet many people are eager to nod and offer verbal agreement when someone mentions how "crazy" things are, or how "people just lack common sense these days."  Of course, "commons sense," if something besides strict logic is meant by the phrase, does not exist in any form.

When the majority of people agree that their generation is awash with stupidity, they ironically often condemn themselves just as much as they do others.  But few realize this, because intelligence is a rare commodity, though not a physical commodity, and not one that is depleted when one person indulges in it.  Almost everyone is willing to complain about stupidity and its inconvenient or destructive results, but very few actually know what it is, and what prolongs its existence!

I clearly am not saying to never decry the public, for the public truly is comprised of numerous misguided, unintelligent individuals.  I denounce the public regularly and harshly.  It is hypocritical or ignorant denouncing that I am cautioning against here.  When a person describes the public as gullible, does he or she simultaneously believe the unverified?  When a person mocks unintelligence, does he or she display it at the same time?  Many times these things are indeed the case.

It is easy for members of every generation to simply parrot what the previous one says, or what other members of the same generation say.  It is easy for many people to say that the current political landscape is crazy.  It is easy to say that most people are irrational.  And both statements are correct.  It requires far more effort, though, to understand what is absurd about contemporary politics and why it is absurd, just like it requires far more effort to understand what rationality is and in what ways most people are irrational.