The Sky is Falling and Other Shared Delusions

You may recall the traditional English fable about Henny Penny who, while scratching for food in the barnyard, was hit on the head by a falling acorn. Concluding that the sky must be falling, she rushed off to tell the king. Along the way, she met Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey, all of whom readily accepted the notion that the sky was falling. Unfortunately, their mass hysteria led them to the home of Foxy Loxy and family where, with the exception of Henny Penny who narrowly escaped, they were all devoured. Henny Penny, apparently learned her lesson and never did tell the king about the falling sky. Ideally, we learned the moral of the story, which is to not believe everything we are told.  But, the world is far from ideal.

In the real world, people believe untruths all the time. Sometimes they simply make an error in perception or reasoning and sometimes they accept faulty information on faith without ever investigating the facts, logic, or scientific evidence. Daily life in our world, crowded with people, cultures, societies, sects, cults, religions, politics, marketing and advertising, has gotten complicated. The explosive growth of TV channel choices, the internet, and social networking, has geometrically ramped-up the complexity.

At GradeInflation.Blogspot.com I made the case that grade inflation, political correctness, for-profit universities, and declining interest in STEM courses and professions (science, technology, engineering, and math), have all served to dumb us down by reducing our knowledge base, our critical thinking skills, and our willingness to express dissenting viewpoints. In an increasingly complex world inhabited by an exploding population that does not have the skills to cope, mass delusion takes hold easily and has become commonplace. You can’t listen to the radio, watch TV, or visit your web browser without being invited to accept the most absurd ideas, products, political candidates, and religious beliefs. For many, fiction has become truth, and in SharedDelusions.Blogspot.com we are going to have some fun with this material.