Another
one of those rational, well read, scientifically inclined & down right respectable people this one with a "
love of logical thought, skepticism, and thinking critically. Being an exploration of the applications of skeptical thinking to the world at large"...
One of the hazards of becoming more aware of how biased and (sometimes) duplicitous popular media can be is that you finally, de facto, stop believing everything you read and hear.
It's called, of course, being a "cynic," and it's just as lazy as being gullible. However, because the credulous are often derided as silly or ignorant, cynics sometimes feel that they must therefore be highly intelligent, and that disbelieving everything means that you're too smart to be "taken in."
In reality, cynicism is an excuse, a justification for having stopped thinking. "The media always lies" isn't any closer to the truth than "everything you eat causes cancer" or "all of the science we're being told now could be wrong." It give you an automatic reason not to read (or not to watch your diet or not to learn science), and in the end, is simply a statement of willful ignorance.
Take, for example, the site Clues Forum, which has as its tagline, "Exposing Media Fakery." In particular, consider the thread that was started a little over a year ago, but which continues to circulate, lo up unto this very day... entitled "The (Non-religious) Dinosaur Hoax Question."
Hmmm I'm not liking this at all... I for one have never been called a 'willfully ignorant cynical disbeliever' before... still
it could be worse.
The actual hit piece is his 'exploration' on just three posts on (in my opinion) one of the weaker & more theoretical threads on the forum.
Hundreds of threads, tens of thousands of posts jam packed with mind blowing information and he 'explores' just three posts.
Rather lazy in my opinion.
As for his claim that we're '
cynics'...
Cynicism is an attitude or state of mind characterized by a general distrust of others' motives believing that humans are selfish by nature, ruled by emotion, and heavily influenced by the same primitive instincts that helped humans survive in the wild before agriculture and civilization became established.
... I, for one, suspect that no hunter gatherer on Earth would believe or endure, even for a second,
the bullshit we're expected to do.
I consider myself an optimist. I hope one day
after Academia & the population at large develop basic 'street smarts' & an ability to understand deception then perhaps we can have a 'new' age of enlightenment.
A future world probably not without its lies & liars... but at least possessing populations willing to entertain that lies & liars exist!