They are self-aware, willing to change and learn, and have a rational, logical view of things. It’s rare to meet people like that, but they are by far the best people. Someone’s philosophy on life is probably the best descriptor of a person.

Both. Most people who eat meat would say animal abuse is wrong, all while ignoring their own contribution. A lack of intellectual honesty and logical consistency that leads to moral problems is also anti-intellectual. They would say slavery is wrong because it is prejudice, and unjust for ‘xyz’ reasons, while also saying ‘xyz’ reasons aren’t good enough to change their mind away from eating meat.

I’ve only found people who say really stupid shit get completely downvoted to the floor on Lemmy and there are almost always extensive responses. Anecdotes aren’t the best evidence, I guess my experience was very different.

However, at least you can actually see if people upvoted or downvoted and not just the total, so people are less inclined to just hop the train straight away. Depends largely on the instance though. I’m pretty sure Hexbears can’t even downvote.

Lemmy is far better than Reddit regarding the use of downvotes, but many people still use it as an emotional disagreement button rather than something used to hide useless/irrelevant content. I only downvote when somebody says something completely fucked or starts trolling.

I don’t think upvoting funny comments is necessarily wrong, but there is a lack of meaningful engagement a lot of the time.

I enjoy literature very much, but I don’t see why they couldn’t have picked something more relevant or thought-provoking. My own teachers said it was just what they did as part of the curriculum because it was the easiest to teach relative to some of the other options.

Add in surface level observations of ‘if you are so smart you would realise not everyone is an idiot’ or ‘you have to understand their perspective better’ and maybe 1/2 comments you are slamming a shot. I guess people don’t read comments anymore. (Probably never did.)

Everyone has gaps in their knowledge and errors in their thinking. A true master is an eternal student, or something like that. We can always learn. The problem here is too many people have their own ego impeding any progress.

I agree. But way too fucking many people will ignore the last 2.

I’ll never not see anti-intellectual people as stupid, even if they have their reasons. I used to be an idiot who actively did things they thought were wrong. But eventually I stopped because I realised it’s completely hypocritical and morally and logically wrong. I came to that conclusion without need of others judging me through my own self-reflection, and I’ll admit it was hard. Even so, I wished somebody would have called me out, but I guess animal consumption is so engrained in society people don’t even question it. I had my reasons to do so, but they were by no means a justification. I still try to understand things in different ways, but eventually it becomes redundant taking each case and doing so. The reality is that anti-intellectualism is incredibly prevalent and people need to change their ways of thinking. Sometimes they are just blatantly wrong and need to stop letting their emotions do their thinking. Sometimes there is nothing to understand. I don’t know why people are so bent on seeing every individual separately, it’s impossible to do so. Even if we do, they are still liable for their actions. Such as choosing not to self-reflect.

I don’t think everyone is an idiot. It’s a big assumption to say so. People have their reasons and motivations. Many people weren’t given a fair chance in life, many lacked an education, many were raised to think a certain way or in a certain culture.

I’d wager I have tried arguing with the people I would categorise as ‘anti-intellectual’ more than 99% of people to ever have lived trying to understand them, and I did develop a level of empathy and understanding. But still it remains that just because people have reasons, they aren’t necessarily valid and eventually people are responsible for their own self-reflection and decisions. ‘Solving’ this issue with people who already have engrained beliefs is incredibly difficult because they need to be responsible themselves. It isn’t something I can actualise solely. It’s far easier to start from a fresh generation, because changing is hard when you are used to something for so long. You see this in religious people especially and in people who eat meat. I know why they are/do what they do, but still it doesn’t give justification. Many of them may even doubt their beliefs, but still cling to them. I know they do because I used to as well. I even still proceeded to do things I know were wrong. I don’t claim to be flawless. Furthermore, I also know there is no reason to come in blaming these people ruthlessly because it will not progress anywhere and serve no purpose, what is done is done. But I cannot deny how annoying it is to see people still refuse to even attempt to learn.

The ‘solution’ is very complex if you want people to change because it will be an incredibly difficult task and something that would require an entire cultural shift to how people think. No doubt long term and I don’t have the answer to how, and even if somebody did, it still relies on others to make a decision themselves. You can only make your own judgement of individuals for so long, soon enough you can recognise patterns and arguing every case is not possible with what time you have. I do my best.

The worst thing at school by far was being forced to read shit like Romeo and Juliet at school that I just didn’t care about. Of course, I still enjoy reading, but it is really off-putting as an experience. Too much of the school system focuses on exams and retaining correct information, rather than the logical processes or conclusions derived from learning something and adapting it. Memory and exams are still very, very important, but without the skills to adapt the information or consider alternatives it becomes very limited in application when you are taught so strictly.

I think ‘human nature’ is far too broad to define in such a way, and making objective statements about it is wrong. In my opinion, the only definite thing you can say is that humans act out of self-interest (as do all living beings), but the motivation derived from it doesn’t have to be destructive.

What’s wrong with that? Just an example, imagine living in a world where most people consume animal products without second thought, despite the absolute moral atrocity that is committed as a result of it. You’d be pathetic to not be outraged at it. People should care about the consequences of their actions, but most people hypocritically selective in what ways they are.

It’s just absurd that so many people fall into the shitter so incredibly easily without second consideration. But those who don’t also need to get out of the mentality of ‘I can’t do anything’ because even a single individual can have a massive impact in other people’s lives and the world without major ambitions. Every time somebody says that, it just feels so pathetic, like they have given up attempting any responsibility and relinquished the last of their power even though so much more could have been accomplished. We collectively need to have a much stronger resistance to injustice in the world, and we are making progress, but it’s so slow it’s eclipsed by the amount of atrocious shit that happens almost every single day. I find it saddening how quick people are to resign themselves from doing something just because the odds are against them.

I’m very specific about my friends, I promise you that isn’t the problem. It’s more of an observational thing, and it is clearly present in western society at the very least. Even with my friends, we are still an insignificant minority compared to the larger population.

It’s not unpopular and more so true. Religion is anti-intellectual, and the main abrahamic ones double-dip hard on it. If you ever tried arguing with a religious person about faith, it’s incredibly obvious how impactful it is on their critical thinking.

Capitalism also prefers anti-intellectual thinking because it makes people easier to manipulate and exploit into accepting shitty conditions and supporting the system. I think a large cause for the lack of critical thinking and self-reflection is because too many people live a very self-centred life where they consider themselves superior automatically and never take the time to question their beliefs, or if they do, refuse to face contradictions because it’s harder than staying the same.

There are solutions. But no fast ones without violence, and no long ones that won’t come too late.

Communism and empathy for other creatures (humans included.)

It’s peak cognitive dissonance that most people struggle with due to years of social conditioning and lobbying. You can’t even publish the shit in the news any more. Add to the fact a lot of people just don’t think about shit at all, and it is a reality most people don’t want to see when confronted. Frustrating to say the least.

Right wing politician claiming to care about men’s rights and sexism? Sure. This is just another attempt to distract people from the real problems within the government. There should be a single social equalities minister, which is what the role already is, really. It just so happens that misogyny is literally everywhere in the world and that men (as a man myself) are advantaged in numerous ways. Imagine being a woman in Pakistan.

There are some social stigmas and problems from cultural beliefs, such as the idea ‘men don’t feel’ and other bs, but in truth anyone with a brain realises how invalid these arguments are. What we actually need is better education and access to information, so people don’t fall into this shit in the first place and can see through the flaws of people around them and not follow into conformism blindly. If anything, the idea of having a male counterpart is just serving to further the divide by continuing to separate people based on superficial qualities. If you really want to end sexism, you need to treat people as equals regardless of sex, and to get others to do the same. It will require lots of activism to do so because far too many people hold discriminatory beliefs towards both sexes that they are taught from a young age and hold emotionally rather than logically.

From what I have observed, so many people claiming to care or talking about ‘men’s rights’ really just have a victim-complex and are very emotionally immature. It’s all too often the same people who cry about women being bitches or being shameless onlyfans models. For all the problems women face, it’s barely even comparable. That isn’t to invalidate sexism against men, but just to mean that they are not even nearly close in terms of discrimination experienced.