Prescient Bertrand Russel
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"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you should feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction.
The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants!”
~Bertrand Russell, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish (1943)
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It's a nice thought, but tends to ring a little hollow in practice, when obviously bad and wrong ideas are taken seriously by too many people, and bad consequences for everybody result. I think that could elicit anger rather than pity. Pity is for outliers who believe something nonsensical, but who don't matter. The homeless person on the corner, screaming about how Kamala would have been a better choice, for instance.
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Two words: Tariffs
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I was going to say something along the lines of Horace’s first sentence. If there are no consequences to their absurd opinion, then yeah he’s right. If the guys with the absurd opinions get put in power, then all bets are off.
Good thing that never happens.
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I was going to say something along the lines of Horace’s first sentence. If there are no consequences to their absurd opinion, then yeah he’s right. If the guys with the absurd opinions get put in power, then all bets are off.
Good thing that never happens.
