I sometimes worry that we atheists are often mocking poorly-educated and/or lower-IQ individuals.

It may not be all their fault that they can't understand what we are saying.

It may not be their fault for not understanding but it is when they say something incorrect.

All mushrooms are edible; some you can even eat more than once.

All those years I made a living as a woodworker, I never owned a lathe. I’m thinking I should correct that oversight.

Boru

(May 4, 2025 at 11:02 am)Alan V Wrote: I sometimes worry that we atheists are often mocking poorly-educated and/or lower-IQ individuals.  

It may not be all their fault that they can't understand what we are saying.

In this day and age, there’s no excuse for being uneducated. They have a world of information literally at their fingertips. The willfully ignorant deserve mockery.

Boru

(May 6, 2025 at 2:18 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(May 4, 2025 at 11:02 am)Alan V Wrote: I sometimes worry that we atheists are often mocking poorly-educated and/or lower-IQ individuals.  

It may not be all their fault that they can't understand what we are saying.

In this day and age, there’s no excuse for being uneducated. They have a world of information literally at their fingertips. The willfully ignorant deserve mockery.

Boru

That would require them be be able to discern between what's factual and what's not. Good luck with that.

(May 6, 2025 at 2:29 pm)Jackalope Wrote:

(May 6, 2025 at 2:18 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: In this day and age, there’s no excuse for being uneducated. They have a world of information literally at their fingertips. The willfully ignorant deserve mockery.

Boru

That would require them be be able to discern between what's factual and what's not.   Good luck with that.

Which is what makes them willfully ignorant.

Boru

(May 6, 2025 at 2:39 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(May 6, 2025 at 2:29 pm)Jackalope Wrote: That would require them be be able to discern between what's factual and what's not.   Good luck with that.

Which is what makes them willfully ignorant.

Boru

Early and premature identifications act as information filters which automatically discard all sorts of useful knowledge.

It therefore takes people who identify as religious longer to learn because they have to overcome such problems too.  

They would be better off if they had been taught nothing rather than being taught what was incorrect, however socially useful bad ideas can be.

Many of such people can't be helped because of the sunk-cost fallacies in their thinking: "But I'm committed to this, but I built my relationships around that."

(May 6, 2025 at 2:39 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(May 6, 2025 at 2:29 pm)Jackalope Wrote: That would require them be be able to discern between what's factual and what's not.   Good luck with that.

Which is what makes them willfully ignorant.

Boru

I dunno, I see a pretty wide gulf between inability and wilful ignorance.