Intellectual Rubbish 

There is a lot of anger on social media these days. And I am not immune to this either. So I keep asking myself “Why?" 

Is it a creeping Marxist conspiracy to turn American against American? 

Is it just young internet trolls in their mama’s basement enjoying torturing us all, like a budding psychopath with an innocent animal? 

Or a commercial conspiracy to generate clickbait money? 

All of the above maybe? 

Why all of this anger? 

I found this quote by Bertrand Russell, and I’m worried that it is true….   

 

 

“If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. 

If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you should feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. 

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. 

Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.“

 — Bertrand Russell, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish (1943)