Meditation for January 1st, 2017
Not Being Smart
No matter what information a person needs or how complicated the issues maybe, everyone has an opinion. Opinions have replaced intellectualism and searching for knowledge. To question a person’s opinion is to be at war against their feelings and self.
No one likes to be dumb. Not to be the smartest person in the room is the most terrifying thing in a person’s life. So an opinion becomes just as valid as fact even if it’s wrong.
With the internet being easily accessible to just about anyone, people believe they have the same access to information as the experts who studied for years on the subject. This means a cashier at a deli has just the same amount of knowledge on a topic as a nuclear physicist. Except the physicist is basing their knowledge on fact while the cashier is sharing an opinion.
Our society has decided that belief has some sort of value. It doesn’t. There is no value in believing that God created man out of clay when it doesn’t do anything for anyone but maybe harm. Attacking a person’s belief is almost a crime, and when I say attack I mean ask for what facts back that belief.
The climate hoax believing old people and the anti-vaxxer hippies believe their beliefs are legitimate and real. They use personal experience as a fact, something they read on a questionable website or an email that was forwarded to them by either baldeagle1776@aol or purplegiraffepsychicmarigold1967@earthlink, they will even base it on just knowing it is true.
Belief and opinion have no value at all. It doesn’t serve anyone, including yourself, anything at all. In a lot of cases beliefs and opinions are harmful.
Knowledge is hard. It takes effort. It requires a journey. Looking at a few lines on Wikipedia, Blaze.com, or Huffington Post is not going to give you knowledge.
For example I tried to see what percentage of the GDP we as a country spends on science and research versus the percentage of the GDP we spend on the faith based initiative that was created by President George W. Bush and then enthusiastically continued by President Barack H. Obama. While the percentage of the GDP for science and research is 2 to 3%, finding the GDP of money put into religious groups is going to require a lot more research. Both administrations are not transparent about giving money to faith based (Protestant) programs.
So the answer isn’t easy. Beliefs and opinions are easier. Lies and guesses are the easiest.
So I could just say that we spend 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on faith based groups. Right wingers get up in arms about spending tax money on welfare, but feel fine about giving money to groups who believe in myths to do the welfare programs.
But because people believe in something, they feel like they are justified. They treat their belief as facts. They don’t have to be accountable to any kind of truth.
Now we have a platform where everyone gets to share those opinions and beliefs with no accountability at all. “It doesn’t matter if it’s true because it’s what I feel.”
If you’re feeling it, then it’s not fact, and people would rather be right than true. And that is why most people choose to not be smart.