Thinking and knowing

A few months ago I was getting a haircut when my coiffeuse Samantha mentioned a segment she heard on the 'Ceeb in which the interviewee stated the following (more or less):

'Nowadays people tend to say what they think and not what they know.'

Considering the proliferation of blogs, wikis, and model/movie star/handbag designer/professional volleyball players being interviewed on the evening news, these words ring eerily true. The media landscape is awash with mouthy commoners (like moi) and sparkling personalities who have plenty to say about everything - and an attentive audience ready to take their words and pass them on regardless of their truthiness.

Example: Tom Cruise's assertion that post-partum depressed woman should be treated with vitamins and exercise so diminished the scope of this malady in the media that Brooke Shields and experts had to step forward immediately and make counter-statements to prevent further misconceptions.

If the Unabomber had said something similar, people would have curled their lips in disgust and ignored him completely. But since it was handsome-actor-slash-hero Tom Cruise, no chances could be taken. TC never studied to be a doctor, but I don't think that really matters when you can persuasively play one on tv.

That being said, I don't think "nowadays" is the correct term. Broken telephone has existed since the beginning of time, as have big talkers, know-it-alls, and smartasses.

What's changed is that nowadays, technology has multiplied the rate at which information flows (and it's only getting faster) thus exponentially increasing the number of people who will be exposed to that information.

What's amazing is not that humans like to think they know more than they actually do.

It's that they now have unlimited tools to spread that particular illusion.