Facebook Logic

[Interbane]

I've often made snarky comments to friends about their facebook logic. But after being more active on the social media website, I've realized that it isn't just a snarky comment.

I don't disable comment by anyone. I let it all flow, from whatever source. And I'm sickened by how stupid my social network is.

Grammatical errors, spelling errors, and social errors aside, the amount of logical ineptitude is staggering.

I haven't seen more than a handful of "argument" posts that don't commit fallacies. I'm not a hardcore facebook fanatic, but I browse it a couple times a day for ten minutes or so. The majority of arguments, which are usually political, are fallacious. It's not just from a single person or handful of people either. It's from many different acquaintances. I can point to the fallacy directly, without any room for doubt. It's clear cut, plain as day, absolutely fallacious, 90% of the time.

I can't be the only person who's experiencing this. Is anyone else in the same boat?

[Penelope]

When a small majority of people voted for Brexit and certain unlikely heads of state are voted into power, I doubt the ability of people to think logically.

I like Facebook just for keeping in touch with friends on an informal level. How else would I be able to talk to ex daughters in law of whom I grew fond. Or ladies in foreign parts with whom I have never met but grown close by comparing notes about the weather etc.

I just don’t expect serious debate.

[Robert Tulip]

http://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/how-to- ... s-to-argue - How to disagree well: 7 of the best and worst ways to argue

[johnson1010]

Seems that most on social media haven't tried to apply any critical thinking. Even though I remember that section having being highlighted and bold in the text books.

I was in those classes with them, so I know they read that part too.

[Penelope]

The Mikado - Gilbert & Sullivan

The billiard sharp whom any one catches
His doom’s extremely hard
He’s made to dwell
In a dungeon cell
On a spot that’s always barred
And there he plays extravagant matches
In fitless finger-stalls
On cloth untrue
With a twisted cue
And elliptical billiard balls

The extent to which I will not go beyond..,

[geo]

Grammatical errors, spelling errors, and social errors aside, the amount of logical ineptitude is staggering.

It is cringeworthy for me as well. I don't spend a lot of time on FB, but a lot of what I see is just extreme superficiality and laziness. People share comments that are nothing more than manufactured memes, as if they can't muster the energy to make their own arguments. Most of the memes are clearly pleas to emotion anyway. We really are living in a post-truth age.

Then again, I'm "friends" with some authors and science groups, which do post intelligent stuff.

[Litwitlou]

.
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A course in logic should be required. If not in high school, then certainly in college. Me? I neither Facebook nor Tweet.

[geo]

Confirmation bias play a huge role in how we see the world, and especially in what set of facts we are willing to look at. I copied this from a critical thinking pamphlet I own.

[Interbane]

I'm coming to understand more fully the emotional aspect of confirmation bias. Every meme that supports one side's position seems to elicit a "GOOOOOAL" reaction. People cheer for it and celebrate it. It's all emotion, zero reason.

[DB Roy]

Facebook is horrible. I got laid off last year and yet found a new job in three weeks. I was hired because the guy they interviewed before me couldn't shut up about Trump and how great he is. Needless to say, that's not a good way to interview. So instead of giving the guy the job, they went to next resume in line--mine. I acted like a normal human being and got the job. So I posted my story on FB under the sarcastic title "Hey, I guess Trump really is giving us jobs!" Because if this other chump hadn't ruined his chances to get hired by jabbering about Trump, I might still be unemployed. Maybe 1 in 100 people actually read my post. Nearly every response was "Fuck you!" or "Have fun at your new job sucking Trump glory hole, asshat!" or "No, he isn't bringing us jobs! What the fuck is wrong with you people??" One guy was saying, "Please read what he wrote, you're getting it all wrong!" He was ignored. The insults poured in until the page host deleted the thread.

What an embarrassment. They don't read anything!! They skim the first sentence and fire off a response. That's it! They don't read. There's no attempt at balance or to be informed. It's all about responding. The response is everything. If this was just a few people doing this, okay, but this was virtually every person who responded. NOBODY reads what you post. They don't read it. They just want to respond to what they GUESS you wrote. In my case, it was only a half-dozen sentences to read the entire post but that's too much. Three sentences is too much. Facebook is horrible.

Then there are people who can read one sentence and still criticize what you wrote despite the obvious attempt at humor. Today someone posted a question about whether anyone really though shows like Star Trek actually show us a utopian future and, if so, are we in agreement with the idea that we are headed towards utopia. Fair question. I responded something like, "Well, I think we're bound to contact many alien civilizations from distant star systems where everybody speaks perfect English." The only response I got was from some guy who insisted this could not possibly be the case and that the only thing we are likely to have in common is mathematics. I mean, come on! Did he really think I was serious?? But at least he read what I wrote and responded accordingly instead of calling me an asshat.