It’s not the first day that I’ve observed the picture with amazement: experts in the Ukrainian conflict are changing their specializations literally on the fly. Now experts on US-China relations.
Most shocking is the warmth and passion these people show in defending their point of view. This is great! For example, I don’t have any perspective on China and it takes a lot of reading material to get it.
Something quite different – commentators on social networks. It would seem that there is no such field of human knowledge inaccessible to them. I looked at the avatars with concern. And exactly!
The same people who talked about the types of coronavirus a year ago.
World politics, economics, medicine, aircraft construction – nothing seems impossible to a domestic sofa analyst.
I remember a few years ago, a woman appeared in the comments to the posts of popular bloggers and made obligatory remarks on the topic. My friends and I called the woman an “expert in medieval aviation” because, firstly, there were no taboo topics for her, and secondly, she managed to talk a lot about the Middle Ages and discuss the problems of the decline of Boeing together. thread.
And now, I see, there are more and more “medieval aviation experts” over the years. What is secret?
First, the Dunning-Kruger effect. In short, the less a person knows, the less he suspects his judgments. In other words, there is no way to explain to an idiot that he is stupid.
Second, in times of pandemic, people craved communication, and apparently it got a little brutal in some places.
Third, the general neuroticization of society in a difficult political situation.
In recent months, when meeting such commentators, I have had a feeling that Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi wonderfully described:
“A fool cannot stand the rudeness of thought, unanswered question, unsolved problem. For a long time he has decided everything, understood and knows everything. He is a logical person and comes together in everything and completes every thought. When meeting a true idiot, a person is one of a kind. The mystic despairs because a fool is the seed of the end of the world. Humanity seeks, asks questions, progresses, and this is in everything: in science, art and life, but a fool sees no questions.
In general, there is the most striking criterion that allows you to instantly identify such a commentator: the imperious tone.
The sofa specialist, as a rule, has not only infinite value, but also the only correct opinion. And it does not matter who is in front of him – an academic, a writer or a president.
I have long deduced for myself the most effective formula for communicating with such figures. I read your bright and abundant comments, I closed my eyes for a moment and began to hear the sound of the sea. Sometimes a seagull screams!
Then I open my eyes and do a short, simple action: I send it to the ban list.
By doing this, I deeply believe I am doing society a great benefit: I am reducing the entropy of the universe. After all, someone has to!
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.