This is a case that I just ran into, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. I just don’t want people to accuse me of being against religion per se or against politics per se. I am against stupidity, full stop.

So here we go again.

This one, I’m going to keep short because it’s just an aside, but I was over on a social media site, in something that has nothing whatsoever to do with religion or politics or anything tangentially related. Someone said something wrong. It was actually responding to a meme, which was factually correct, but they jumped all over it because they didn’t comprehend what the words involved meant.

So I’m trying to help them because they kind of look dumb. I was very polite. There is a difference between what it says and what you are wrongly assuming that it says. Make the correction, it’s not a big deal. Maybe take down the post because invariably, other people can, and in fact, did, come along and point out the exact same thing that I did. I was just nicer about it.

Nope, instead, he doubles down on his error. He doesn’t care. He continues to post things that make it clear that he has no clue what any of the terminology means. He’s not even close. In fact, he’s claiming that the words mean exactly the opposite of what they actually mean.

So I tried again. I knew it was a waste of time because now, he’s getting abusive. I posted the definitions from several dictionaries and showed that he had it wrong. He still had a chance to change course.

He refused. By then, half a dozen other people had come by and were laughing at him and he was cussing them all out. Oh well, I tried. He was acting like a 6-year old and, honestly, for all I know, he could have been one, but far too many people behave like that these days. When I gave up and walked away, it was still going down. I was getting up-voted, he was getting down-voted and still screaming at everyone within ear-shot. I figure the moderators will eventually get involved and delete the entire thread. I was only trying to help.

This is insanely common these days. Sure, I could have kept my mouth shut and the same thing would have happened. He’d still be screaming into the wind and refusing to admit that he was wrong. It was so simple, but so many people these days have no clue about how to be rational. That’s why they fail in life. It’s why they can’t get a job, or especially can’t keep a job. They let their emotions run away with them and scream that they’re right, even though there is overwhelming proof that they’re not.

Now being mistaken isn’t a big deal. Who cares? We’re all wrong from time to time. The important part is learning from your mistakes so you don’t make them again. Tons of people just aren’t interested. This is true in religion, we see it every day, it’s true in politics, it’s true in virtually everything. People just don’t want to think critically, they just want to react emotionally.

Reacting doesn’t actually change the reality of the situation.

I have people saying that’s just how people are. What, stupid? There was a time when we actually had some standards in society. I can’t say that I necessarily agreed with all of the standards, but we had them. Now, it’s a free-for-all. Anyone can do anything they want, no one is allowed to be criticized because fee-fees and people act in self-destructive ways because you can’t pull them aside and point it out. You might hurt their feelings!

Screw that. That way, madness lies. Mostly, we’re already there, but I’m never going to give in. I actually care about people but I care about reality more. I’d rather not have people making fools of themselves. I can’t force them to have a brain in their heads, but at least I can try to help.