The Increasing Problem With the Misinformed

[Igel]

3. You're being kind.

Look at the Megyn Kelly Twitter insult graph.

There's an initial burst of invective, then it follows a decay curve. Some days are worse than others, but off hand the best-fit curve is a classic decay curve.

Something was done to rev up the abuse machine a year later. And the invective level after that is following (it seems, given just the data shown) a decay curve.

Yet the grown-up discussing how misinformed everybody is describes it as monotonically increasing levels of invective.

We've always had the misinformed. We just didn't have to listen to them. Now they feel entitled because all opinions are equally valid.

Heck, a lot of students aren't really clear on the idea that there are facts. They've been taught simplified versions of things then told they were taught wrong. They don't get the "this is simplified, now for a bit more elaboration" riff.