The Multitude Are Wrong! - by Hénock Gugsa

The Multitude Are Wrong! 

~ by Hénock Gugsa ~

Recently on Facebook, I responded to somebody named CG [initials] who made the following inane comment to the posted picture meme ....

CG ===> I absolutely love how ironic this picture is, and you all are proving it. It is simply saying ALL issues aren't so simple and everyone needs to be well informed. Nowhere does it mention politics, but what do so many of you do? You simply the issue to a "Democrats vs Republicans."
For fuck sakes, get your head out of the politician's assholes and THINK for yourself.
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[ and I responded to CG as follows ...]

HG ===> Curtis: Couldn't you just simply give us only your take on the message in the meme instead of your snarky commentary about the world? I do not get anything of value from your commentary here, but I want you to know that I like and agree with the message in the meme. I don't have to give anyone a reason why ... do you give your reason for everything you do or for your beliefs and judgements?!

HG ===> ... and oh, incidentally, I see that  286  people have given your commentary a thumbs up.  I believe this proves that indeed the multitude seem to prefer taking the wrong path as stated by the meme.  This is a perfect example of "res ipse loquitur" ["the thing speaks for itself"]. 

[Choices and Pitfalls of] Decision Making ~~ by TPO

[Choices and Pitfalls of] Decision Making *

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<<....  In 2006, J. Edward Russo, a psychologist specializing in decision making at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, ran a series of experiments to illustrate just how easy it would be to get us to go against our own best interest with just a bit of clever framing.  First, he and his colleagues asked a group of students about their restaurant preferences for two pairs of fictional restaurants that were described according to ten different attributes (atmosphere, daily specials, driving distance, speed of service, and the like).  Two weeks later, they asked  everyone to come in for a follow-up.  This time, the list of attributes was modified and ordered in a very specific way.  The information was identical, but now the characteristic that most favored the inferior restaurant was placed first -- and the less favorable last.  Everyone was next asked to rate the restaurants a second time, and then to say how confident they were of their choices on a scale of zero (uncertain) to one-hundred (completely certain), where fifty represents a toss-up.

This time around, a majority of people -- 62 percent -- favored the previously inferior choices.  The fact that the first attribute supported it skewed all subsequent information.  In fact, after the first attribute alone, a full 76 percent said the inferior choice was the leader.  What's more, they had no idea  they were doing it.  People were choosing a restaurant they would not have naturally liked nearly as much as other options, but they remained equally confident in their choice no matter what option they'd picked.>>
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* Source: "The Confidence Game" by Maria Konnikova (Viking Press, 2016). 
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