is that we are stupid.
The biggest issue I have run into when debating with people is that they are INCONSISTENT!!! I can only attribute this to plain stupidity.
The other day I was talking with a guy who has had an economics 101 class. He was trying to tell me that in some industries, it is good for the government to grant monopolies, but that in most it is not. I asked him over and over again how we know which industries it is good in, and he could not answer the question. I could not even start to argue the fallacies in government granted monopolies because on one hand he is against them and on the other he is for them.
Same thing with patents. On one hand they are property rights. But you ask why we do not treat them like property rights and put no time limits on them and all of a sudden they become government granted monopolies and so we cannot do that.
I have found in my discussions on the internet and in real life that this mentality is common, on just about every political/economical issue.
At most, I think only 5% of the adult population would need to stop cooperating to have real change.
Cognitive dissonance/fear of the unknown/special pleading/low imagination/IQ/selfish benefit from the status quo. All non-anarchists fall under one of these categories.
-Jon
Freedom of markets is positively correlated with the degree of evolution in any society...
The sheep mentality. If most countries have income tax than it means they're right and anyone who is agains it is wrong. If most economists approve bailouts they must be right and you're wrong to be against it (and you're not an ecomonist anyway). And so on.
If I hear not allowed much oftener; said Sam, I'm going to get angry.
J.R.R.Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Well who are these people you're debating? If they're lay-people, I'd point out that most of them just don't really know what they think because they haven't ever really given it much thought. It's not so much stupidity as ignorance. You might be interested in Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter.
I think the problem is that people are opinionated while not being curious.So they will have strong opinions, but built on very little actual knowledge.
Donny with an A: Well who are these people you're debating? If they're lay-people, I'd point out that most of them just don't really know what they think because they haven't ever really given it much thought. It's not so much stupidity as ignorance. You might be interested in Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter.
It is irrelevant if they are lay people. Keyenesian economics is full of inconsistencies, and plenty of "intellectuals" buy into the crap.
I have debated at length with a full Keyenesian economist and tried to get him to give a consistent argument on the benefits of government provided education, but he could not be consistent. As soon as I try to suggest that we should expand the same program to other industries he put on the brakes.
So no, I do not believe it is ignorance. I believe it is simple stupidity.
Marko: I think the problem is that people are opinionated while not being curious.So they will have strong opinions, but built on very little actual knowledge.
I think smart people are curious and stupid people are not. And since most people are not curious, most people are stupid. Their brains are too slow to even be curious in the first place.
I mean, there certainly are stupid people. But I don't think that the general public's failure to accept libertarian or Austrian ideas is a result of stupidity so much as ignorance.
Spideynw: I think smart people are curious and stupid people are not. And since most people are not curious, most people are stupid. Their brains are too slow to even be curious in the first place.
Nothing wrong with not being curious in itself. I for example am not cuious at all about nuclear physics. But the difference is I don`t walk around sharing my "opinion" on nuclear fusion do I. Lack of curiosity only becomes a problem when it is coupled by a fanatical need to form strong opinions.I`m fine with people that don`t know a thing about say the conflict in Darfur. But if you don`t know squat about it, why in nine hells do you have to start a ruckus about it and spout utter drivel in regards to it? Understand it is not a crime not to know about Darfur. Give it a rest, no one will think less of you if you don`t know anything about it and if therefore you do not jet have an opinion on it.Same about economics. If you don`t know anything about economics why not just say so? Why this need to effectively pretend? It is what makes it so hard to explain things to people. Because they make themselves belive they already know, when they are infact clueless.
Donny with an A: I mean, there certainly are stupid people. But I don't think that the general public's failure to accept libertarian or Austrian ideas is a result of stupidity so much as ignorance.
Well, most are sheeple, and yes if we raised them teaching them constantly about libertarian ideals, they would probably parrot everything back just fine. But, since the vast majority are stupid sheeple, they will keep teaching each other the wrong things.
Marko:Nothing wrong with not being curious in itself. I for example am not cuious at all about nuclear physics. But the difference is I don`t walk around sharing my "opinion" on nuclear fusion do I. Lack of curiosity only becomes a problem when it is coupled by a fanatical need to form strong opinions.I`m fine with people that don`t know a thing about say the conflict in Darfur. But if you don`t know squat about it, why in nine hells do you have to start a ruckus about it and spout utter drivel in regards to it? Understand it is not a crime not to know about Darfur. Give it a rest, no one will think less of you if you don`t know anything about it and if therefore you do not jet have an opinion on it.Same about economics. If you don`t know anything about economics why not just say so? Why this need to effectively pretend? It is what makes it so hard to explain things to people. Because they make themselves belive they already know, when they are infact clueless.
Fine, they are stupid because they are opinionated and will not look at arguments from the other point of view. It does not change the fact that they are stupid.