Are most people intelligent? The answer is actually yes, but there are different kinds of intelligence, and being social creatures, some of us are not geared towards intellect in a more traditional sense (logic, math, analytical reasoning), and instead towards social intelligence.
Those geared towards social intelligence can read a room and determine what wins them social credit points and what loses them, and they're very good at following that trend.
The problem is they can get so high off of that that they lose sight of other goals or purposes to the interaction, or fail to question if the interaction is worthwhile at all. In this particular case, we are looking at a situation where Metallica basically said "we just wanna play music," and the angry mob is attacking them because checks notes apparently the world will end if Metallica continues providing the literal service they are paid to provide instead of giving us their deep, in-depth political ideology that is bound to isolate at least some fans and make them feel uncomfortable.
Absolutely fuck-all is achieved by hearing Metallica's political opinions, but the social heads don't think in logic like that, they think "what scores me social credit points?"
For them, Metallica opted not to fall in line, they know they can get social credit points by screeching like a banshee about how pRoBlEMaTic Metallica is for not falling in line, so they do. Their chosen echo chamber claps like seals in approval as they voice correct opinion, they get warm fuzzies and feel secure for getting support from their echo chamber, and their social intelligence has done an A+ job at giving them an emotional reward....it just didn't do a very good job at questioning the actual purpose, practicality or demand for the interaction.
The thing is, they are not socially intelligent at all. Anyone not terminally online and able to read the general sentiment of most of the culturally engaged would recognize that for years, that sentiment has been "stop pushing politics in everything. Entertainment especially is meant as an escape from life stress and people have increasingly been on pushing back on artists bringing their politics into focus.
But the left really don't want to acknowledge this, and you see it on many Reddit threads of how anything that differs from the hive opinion is downvoted or dismissed as not activity. They actively push people away from their ideology by being so pushy and annoying about everything; I fail to see any emotional intelligence in explicitly rejecting the notion of building compromise and instead screaming at anyone who isn't already 100% in your camp to get out.
It's perspective. Within their respective, chosen bubble, they are behaving highly effectively. You're right that the same actions can backfire heavily in others, or even in the overwhelming majority. But in their social circle? This is how they score points.
But the left really don't want to acknowledge this, and you see it on many Reddit threads of how anything that differs from the hive opinion is downvoted or dismissed as not activity.
It's actually been shown that around 80% of the online content is made by around 20% of the public, those being the fringe 10% on each side. I initially doubted this, but when you think about it, it makes sense.
The people who live on Twitter, Reddit, or any other social media platform simply outproduce those who do not. They literally have nothing else, so of course they produce more and spend more time crafting narratives.
Likewise, unfortunately, news media loves a bad, drama-filled story, because it gets clicks. Even the moderates who disagree with the opinions voiced will click to feel a sense of horror, moral superiority, or just to get a vibe of the world and what humans are capable of.
Great example: I remember watching a street interview in Pennsylvania regarding who people would vote for in 2024. By far the most dominant opinion was something akin to:
"Trump. I don't really like him and I don't have a lot of hope for him changing anything, but Kamala said she's basically gonna be doing the same thing as Biden, and I see how it's going with Biden and I can't keep this up. So I feel like I don't really have a choice, yknow?"
Give it time, let the news spin it, and suddenly instead of this being majority jaded, pessimistic voters feeling "forced" to make that choice, suddenly it's all MAGAts who love Trump and support him in everything he does no matter what.
I also think this is very visible with the "Blue Wall." Go look up voting stats on the Blue wall and it has flipped it's allegiance every election without fail since 2016. The Blue Wall isn't loyal to anyone, it's clearly just pissed. Those are Americans who feel like they aren't being heard, so whenever they don't feel heard, they oust whoever's in power, be they red or blue.
Even now, Trump is cutting deals with Russia to get cheaper gas. This is actually hurting his numbers and contradicts the idea that most Americans will just blindly support him, but that hurts people's narrative where they feel like the brave hero fighting the big bad and the masses of idiots, so we just look the other way on that.
But again, look at the mainstream media and how sites like reddit choose to depict politics, and it's all MAGAts and purple-haired woke feminazis. Nobody ever depicts either voter as the moderate who hates BOTH candidates and just feels forced to make a choice, despite the fact that independent voters are the fasting growing voting bloc. ALL the stats support that most people do not like Trump nor the DNC, and yet we frequently depict everyone as one of two extremes.
It's unfortunately something that arises because the exact people that shouldn't be forming and spouting opinions are the exact people most likely to, while the news media is more than happy to give those takes legitimacy for some clicks and views.
I'm curious if you've ever been diagnosed with ASPD. I'm trying to get better at recognizing diagnosed sociopaths and you write like one so I was wondering.
Your assumption that empathy is a tactic and not a reaction. Your whole thing about "social credit points.' You seem to be annoyed that other people are having emotions that you are not.
Yeah, exactly. Stuff like that. Trying to pretend that because you didn't say the word 'empathy' that your whole diatribe wasn't a screed against supposed performative empathy. It's cool though, you're clearly not diagnosed which was my question.
Could it be possible that what's instead going on is you are resorting to lobbing thinly-veiled insults at me because I made a comment you disagree with, and your entire framing is just some elaborate rationalization to try and justify you behaving like a twat?
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u/taylordevin69 8h ago
Why is anyone desperate for metallicas political opinion do you need them to tell you how to think