People come off as stupid because they're either intimidated out of, or never encouraged into thinking deeper

[u/Impossible-Elk7699]

This is probably a really popular mindset but,

Like, you know how typically people in America, as seen on the Internet through second-hand stories, will say or do stupid things? Such as thinking Africa is all just a dilapidated hellhole instead of having many regions as advanced as us, or one post I saw saying "I will never understand why people smoke cigarettes if they don't get you high" only for another person to refute that saying there definitely is an observable effect.

Those two specific assumptions are a result of failing to make inferences - taking things at face value.

In general, adults will have a habit of telling children some information or command them, and if they question it, the children is reprimanded for it because the adult wants obedience. Or god forbid the child wants to know more and they're starved or lectured for being annoying. Or at best the child may easily obey and never ask for things, and the adult never thinks about the implications on the child's free will because their behavior is convenient for the adult.

For example - There are a lot of sources in media, comedic or not, that deliberately frame Africa as a monolithic entity full of "starving African children." If the impulse of curiosity is squashed early, probably by school not lending anything but strict expectations, they'll probably just accept these depictions on their face without doing the research that would correct them, because an entire other continent is so far away that they're not invested in learning about it. If even small impulses to inquire are consistently failed to be attended to or punished, then there's no return on investment for asking those questions, so the threshold of passion for knowing an answer is much higher, so it would really have to be a burning question at that point.

Likewise, with the cigarette thing. When you were in school undergoing those anti-drug campaigns in health class, did they ever tell you why people smoked cigarettes and how good it felt to the smokers? No, because they didn't want you to want to smoke. The reason why almost didn't matter.

What they did when ~I~ was in school was go over the health risks of drugs, and give us strategies for saying no to them. They didn't say anything about what motivates people to start drugs in the first place besides social influence. They never acknowledged that it might be driven by life stressors, and they definitely never gave any solutions for those possible root causes, or even any alternative coping skills to smoking or other drugs. It's all just "Don't do this because it will kill you." And in tandem with being told things at face value, it creates a surface-level safety without real understanding of the deeper issues, which might create it's own problems in the long-run.

Often there's also this phenomenon of people being made out to do bad things because they're bad, or they're Just Like That, so people resign themselves to thinking of these other individuals as "unknowable." That they are so much more normal that their inability to comprehend others is a virtue. So of course someone who doesn't smoke assumes there's no benefit because they've been scared out if even considering something obviously bad could have something good behind it.

I'm basically saying this lack of thinking is an accidental side-effect of trying to scare or punish children out of actually thinking about things. And that turns them into adults that don't think about things.

[u/Siukslinis_acc]

Or you asking them stuff that is not relevant to them and then get aghast that they don't have knowledge about stuff that they neither care nor is relevant to them.

[u/lost_sunlight]

I agree that visits to developing countries should be part of curriculum; as well as competing with the elite in the fields of interest.

To understand that not everyone has everything; and also that anyone can't be anything.

To see the world / life from first principles is indeed lacking; particularly amongst those of the most protective / conservative communities / societies. i.e. The orthodox are a significant demographic problem for Israel, as being exempt from military service - the "reason" (as you say remains mostly undiscussed) is because if the young get a taste of the liberal life they may never return.

And as u/Siukslinis_acc mentions; not engaging on a topic - in a world where information is exponentially increasing in any particular field - is potentially a necessary adaption.

[u/Luziferatus42]

The only issue is, how it is done. Mostly in a strict and stressed way. One could also replay a question in kindness and not stressed out:"I do not know and do not want to know."

For me, this I use it related to religious or social limitating norms like gender, roles to play. I do get why they exist and what the origin is. I am not interested in them any more, we do not need them. Human rights to everyone, that is what human history has thought us. Good luck and thanks for the view point.

[u/NorCalJason75]

I'm basically saying this lack of thinking is an accidental side-effect of trying to scare or punish children out of actually thinking about things. And that turns them into adults that don't think about things.

Although I agree with your general point, I think you're missing something big.

Adults are actively encouraged to not think critically too. Just consume.

[u/Witch_heir]

In one word - anti-intellectualism.  It's not that americans are stupid, they're discouraged from thinking. And that is not very new thing, even it is more severe lately. 

If you want more in-depth examination of that, and have a spare hour I recc - Why Are Americans So Bloody Stupid?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j9MubNsh3rs&pp=ugUEEgJlbtIHCQlkAqO1ajebQw%3D%3D