Lowest Common Denominator

I was joking with the boys a bit yesterday about the world being a dumber place. I was talking politics with a university trained political scientist this morning and the conversations both came to the same conclusions, that people, in general are getting dumber but worse yet, everything is catering to this, supporting it in fact! There is a strong lack of critical thinking taking place in the world today. There has been a growing divide between political ideologies for decades now. Couple those together with a dash of Dunning-Kruger effect and there is an emerging contingent of zealot extremists. That’s a dramatic over simplification of course. One of the main components is the rapidly accepted misinformation that has pervaded our existence with a helping hand from social media. It is probably the keystone to this new direction that we find ourselves as a society veering towards. I suppose I was too specific above when I tied the ideologies to politics, it’s much broader than that. There is a tribilism chasm that is widening quickly on many issues and between viewpoints. Politicians utilize that to force alienation of those who aren’t aligned with their message and they further widen the rift. Us against them, with us or against mentality. Dialogue is being left in the dust, joining its cousin civil discord which fell out of fashion over a decade back. Marketing to the public is purposefully creating divisive content for everything from light beer to climate change (a whole other bag of worms). Beyond this gap between viewpoints is that issues are being simplified and boiled down so the stupid people in the masses can latch on. Everything is catered to the basest segments of the mob. Having been often ignored and overlooked, their relatively new feeling of power and influence is being manipulated to ultimately favour the elite. It’s happening as plain as day, in the open, and no one is opposed. It is pointed out often but nothing has changed. I find it perplexing and frustrating myself. I’m not sure what is to be done, only that radical change will be required to shake it up. Don’t get me wrong, I understand how we got here and that change is inevitable. Don’t mistake me for someone longing for the good old days, they are over. Time is linear and we need to forge ahead. I just can’t grasp how this is what we settled on, what we’re fine with. I don’t know what will fix it but it is starting to feel like the opposing sides of issues are elevating their volume and vitriol on issues and at some point there will be a crescendo, I hope things don’t get too broken when that happens.