Yesterday I realized something weird. Yeah guys, I feel now like I am part of some minority or somebody whose opinions are not typical for country I live in. I was surfing on the Internet, reading the articles. I guess we all do this but this time I decided to pay attention to the comments bellow the text, which were written by the random people. Guess what???!!! I got almost heart attack.
One thing is more than clear. Some people's self-confidence grew a lot thanks to the social media and anonymity it provides because the comments I have come across were full of the oversmart opinions, racism, intolerance,insults of the smart experts, prejudices etc. Firslty, I was thinking about adding my opinion but later after reading reaction of one guy who was also against this majority, I gave up on it. Why to stress myself, why to be attacked by some anonymous virtual people?
It is pretty easy. If you give it time and think about this issue longer, you will find out that people thanks to the Internet can look up so many information. There are countless sources but tell me honestly: "Who can assure us that they all are true, not fake and that they were written by the people who understood it?" Of course, that nobody and this is the power and impact of mass media on common people. I noticed that those so called oversmart experts on the basis of one or two read articles suddenly come up with their opinions, conclusions on some particular topic and feel like genius. People study politics, religion, history, economics, psychology etc. at universities, however those anonymous oversmart ones gained somehow self-confidence, feel very knowledgable, superior and I think that answer like: "I don't know" - would destroy their ego. Besides, some of them are even able to mock educated people, which is very sad fact. Intelligent people with better knowledge of some issue, who are able to debate and express their opinion, which is based on well-founded facts not on some internet doubtful article seem to be for such sort of people nobody.
From my point of view to express own opinion, to explain to others what we think is healthy for every society but to behave like I know everything and I was everywhere, to offend respected, intelligent people is something I would call big disrespect. I doubt that such "unique people" would be able to write at least one article including strong points and facts. We can disagree, why not but we should be able to distinguish between what is appropriate reaction and what is beyond the limits. Honestly, if such people should represent my country, believe it or not, I would rather immigrate because yesterday I felt ashamed of them.
Comments
Masi,
thank you sooooo much for your comment. I am glad that you found this topic interesting and believe it or not, the more I am thinking about it, the more alarming it is. You know, not all people have the same "brain capacity" :-) and the thing is that those Smart Alecs will never realize it. I fully agree with Socrates and his I know that I know nothing!
I feel compelled to write and tell you how I enjoyed reading your blog Luci. In fact, this issue isn't unique only to your country. Some people think they know everything; they feel like the world revolves around them. Here, I remember an Arabic saying which can be glossed as follows: When an ignorant person makes a mistake, they don't feel sorry. Rather, they tend to philosophise about it. When an educated person makes a mistake, they simply apologise for doing so. Also, there is this famous quote which stresses the fact that the greatest danger facing knowledge isn't ignorance but rather the illusion of knowledge. This reminds me of Socrates when he said that the only thing I know is I don't know. That is, the moment one says they know, they must be, how can I put it, ignorant. I mean learning is a life-long process. Suppose you know about something, it would turn out that you only know, let's just say, 1, if not, 2 percent out of 100 percent. As to the media, one has to be fully aware of how media in general and PR in particular can shape both the individual as well as the public opinion. Nowadays, it is a must for everyone to learn something about media literacy. Concerning the information on the web, one has to be conscious of the fact that not everything provided by some engines is credible. Therefore, one has to use, for example in academia it is called, Peer Review, or real references which are provided by specialised field authorities. Other than this, say for example Wikipedia and the like, this is no REAL reference. Moreover, it's never about the abundant amount of information. Rather, it's about the relevance and credibility of the information that counts. I hope this is satisfying. In the end, I should thank you for raising such an interesting issue.
Bia, thank you sooo much for such nice word, it means a lot to me, especially from youuuuuuu.. guess I am dreaming :-D
I think that modern era is pretty dangerous and as for kids, their parents are responsible for it. TO get to know what is trustworthy and what not, we should go back to history and better prefer BOOKS or some specialized magazines, don't you think so?
Dear Luci, a friend recommended your blog to me, and i thought ''what? i have missed something written by Luci?''..next time when you write such a nice piece , please let us know...
I always read anything you write, because , as you said above , you're not one of those wise ''asses''...hahahhaa as Mr Bob put it there..i laughed over that a lot...but the issue you brought in here is really very embarrassing...why embarrassing and not irritating?..bec we can HARDLY know whether this or that source of the Internet or Auntie Google is trustful or not... that;s why i always feel embarrassed..confused and even a little guilty when my osn asks ''is this true mom what is written here ..on this page?''.and imagine if we cannot do anything about it..what will OUR KIDS do then?.whom should we blame?....some countries forbid Youtube...and some other sites.... but most of develoed countries give endless freedom to virtual media ....i feel the same as you while reading this blog but what can we do?...how to prevent the flow of the comments by those ''all know abouts'' to this huge well of Information?
Mohammad, when I have the same reality with you, I'll be sure which answer to write after :)
Mr. Bob, thank you soooo much!!! Your comments are highly appreciated and thank you for teaching me something new. By the way I thought that SmartAss is like compliment for somebody smart :-D oh myy.. thank you once more again and I will read the article.
Mohammad, thank you for your comment.. just tell me, how can I recognize TV which is fair with me? We all make own opinions but sometimes on the basis of something what might be presented in different way..
@ _✿HONEY_BÉÉ✿_ : I am brave enough to say the facts... but what I saw here was nothing but disregard
good article...
That's why I do not watch the main media...
They do the thinking instead of me... And I can't stand such a thing...
That's why I just watch PressTV...
It doesn't lie... It doesn't think instead of me... It doesn't judge instead of me...
I am a human and I have a brain... tell me the news... I will find the facts...
I am the judge...
It is the sad truth today, Luci. Your blog brings up a modern social problem.
People who act like they know everything can be called a Smart Alec, smartass or wiseass. These people are also found in my country and because they are usually able to conceal their identities, they say many stupid and rude things.
Since these terms may be new to you I will tell you that they all mean the same thing. One web page http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/origin-of-the-term-... (which may be accurate or not) gives a possible history for the term smart alec. This goes back into the mid to late 1800's and may be related to a criminal named Alec who thought he was smarter than everyone.
You also may know that an ass is another name for a donkey (sometimes also used for the human behind parts) and is not really a nice thing to call someone. A smartass or wiseass can be taken to mean a donkey or ass that thinks it is wise or smart. If you need to call one of the "Oversmart" people something in English, smart-alec or smart alec is probably accurate and less offensive than one of the names comparing them to an ass.
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