Comment by x3c | Hacker News Reader

Comment by x3c | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

To put it succinctly: "Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it."

I agree with it but I'm also inclined to agree with the defeatist attitude the quote represent. Your comment does point out the problem (which is a step in the right direction), but I fear there's no "sustainable in the long run solution" for the problem.

Opinion based news, short attention span, easy consumption of wide array of opinions, consumerism and the resulting sensationalist attention-grabbing behavior of companies/corporates/politicians is disconcerting to common populace and I, very much, count myself in this population. I've been swayed by one or more of these tactics more than I'd like to admit.

Citizens used to be apathetic, will it be better/worse if they become confounded?

> Citizens used to be apathetic, will it be better/worse if they become confounded?

Politics always attempts to confound people who don't subscribe to rational argument; they might as well get confounded in the right direction. This is not WarGames, where "the only winning move is not to play". We lose nothing by trying, and we stand to gain a great deal.

Yeah, but "Opinion based news, short attention span, easy consumption of wide array of opinions, consumerism and the resulting sensationalist attention-grabbing behavior of companies/corporates/politicians" (and of course, social media) is making it so much easier to disorientate general population.

Rationality requires constant introspection and vigilance; the short attention span and sensationalism is making it increasingly difficult. I'm not saying "the only winning move is not to play", I'm wondering, is there a winning move (the defeatist attitude that I alluded to in the previous comment)? Maybe I'm just looking for a quick fix that never exists for any serious problem.

Edit: Sorry if it looks like I'm thinking out loud.

Disruptive tech innovation is pretty much the only hope IMNSHO.

Ie invent something that makes politics irrelevant in some area. This is somewhat happening with education (ie Khan, Codecademy, Stanford, etc), for instance.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com