The Age of Ignorance

From the Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic:

In the past, if someone knew nothing and talked nonsense, no one paid any attention to him. No more. Now such people are courted and flattered by conservative politicians and ideologues as “Real Americans” defending their country against big government and educated liberal elites. The press interviews them and reports their opinions seriously without pointing out the imbecility of what they believe.

I experienced this when I signed up for Obamacare this past year. Many smart, well-educated friends of mine slammed the program without having done any research themselves. Most were spouting outright lies about the program they gleaned from Fox News or other anti-Obama sources.

All any of them would have had to do is actually visit Healthcare.gov and read for themselves. Instead they chose to regurgitate lies because, well, that’s a lot easier to do than form their own opinion.