Fear. You think you understand the world. Then suddenly some aspect of the world changes. Either you presume that the world is a fearful place, constantly changing and in need of regular reassessment, or you presume that the change is unimportant and that you already know enough about it so you don't need to worry. I'm a little surprised that this discussion has lasted seven hours without anyone mentioning Dunning and Kruger. There's a little of that. More importantly, though, people aren't confident. People aren't self-assured. People are trying to puzzle out the world - that's one reason so many turn to God. God has few answers about Residential Schools; really, if you want to know a few things about something controversial, you have to read a lot. And you probably don't have time for that and you don't really care that much and if this were a big issue someone would have told you about it already so clearly it's unimportant. Because if it actually were important, that would mean that nobody has the answers and that we're always going to be in a constant state of having to figure it all out again. And lots of people don't have the fortitude for that.
I read up on Dunning and Kruger which really does describe many of the people I encounter. They don't think there is anything else to know, and if you point this out and shatter this belief they kind of lose it. As if they are trying to cast out this new information by claiming it doesn't matter or it's opinion rather than fact. It almost seems like a way to stay sheltered away from the world. In order to successfully do that they would have to believe there was nothing else to know otherwise it would be nagging at them. Which I suppose ties into fear as well as your last point there. To add, I wonder if there is a similar theory for people who convince themselves they are smarter then they are not because they are unable to recognize they aren't but because they are afraid of what they will find if they really look at everything. This got me thinking about a few things one of those being racism and I realized that for many maybe this is comforting. Personally I believe everybody is capable of evil and I could see how that belief would be overwhelming if it wasn't balance by an understanding that that also means everybody is capable of good. What I see with people who grew up around me is that when they start paying attention to the world they notice how messed up it is. They want to know there is a solution to the evil in the world so they say it's x race of whatever other prejudice and the answer is simple. Just remove those people. Just remove these people and the world will go back to how it was when they were a child. And then of course that got me thinking about people who say things like " The world used to be such a better place" When really the world was always kind of shitty and it's been getting better constantly. I wonder if what they really mean is there perception of the world used to be so much better when they were a naive child who didn't have to worry about world events. If that's true it's interesting how these people attempt to do things to get back to that place, as if instead of actually accepting the world and attempting to fix it they are trying to get back to this state of childhood ignorance. The adult equivalent of closing your eyes, blocking your ears and singing " I'm not listening lalala"
A single objection: I don't think the world's environment and biosphere are getting better, I think we as humans are degrading them and more quickly as time passes. I do say "The world used to be a better place," which is why I say this - but when I do, if I am serious, I am invariably referring to things like animal extinction, quality of air, quality of life as impacted by the environment, etc. I think the world used to be better in that there used to be more in it, and that we are destroying that. In terms of quality of life, though, I do think the world is generally getting better (undeniably) in that regard.people who say things like " The world used to be such a better place" When really the world was always kind of shitty and it's been getting better constantly
Ah yes I could have been more clear in my meaning. I do think we as humans are getting better at understanding we need to take care of the planet however the progress is slow. We may be better than we were in the industrial age for example but if we look farther back in time there was a time when it was better. So that statement is fair since we still have a ways to go before we get back to a better time Things like quality of life is more what I was getting at with that. Like how safe people thought the world is. People will point to an incident of violence and talk about how downhill the world is going like this is the worst time to be alive. I find it especially weird when women say that... What a terrible burden all these rights and equal opportunities must be. Others places might be slower but they are still progressing which inevitably means they are getting better.