Why Are People So Stupid?

I can't imagine the following video having the same result even 30 years ago. I know it's not Wall Street related, but this really bothers me. When did people get so stupid? Is everyone so desperate for celebrity that even its proximity is enough to cause a mob of dimwits? Granted, these are mostly tourists so they're pretty much the lowest form of life on the planet, but this is ridiculous. Who's with me? Is anyone else disheartened that the lowest common denominator has dropped this far? Is the average person's life really this fucking pathetic?

 

Dude The Beatles were drowned out by screaming fans more than 40 years ago. We've always been this dumb (but are probably only getting smarter).

"'In summary, people are morons and who cares. Make a shit ton of money. I've never seen a Ferrari paid for by what people think.' - ANT" -rufiolove
 
Edmundo Braverman:
acronym:
Dude The Beatles were drowned out by screaming fans more than 40 years ago. We've always been this dumb (but are probably only getting smarter).

Dude, they were the fucking Beatles. This guy is Joe Shit the Ragman from fucking nowhere.

People have reacted hysterically to celebrity (pretty much by definition) literally since communities were large enough to support celebrities. Since the vast majority of people never interact personally with famous people, I don't see why the distinction between "real" or "imagined" celebrity even matters.

It's a natural tendency to see societal decay where there is none. Don't worry about it; just think of all the fucking dumb shit we no longer practice or believe.

"'In summary, people are morons and who cares. Make a shit ton of money. I've never seen a Ferrari paid for by what people think.' - ANT" -rufiolove
 

I would only feel special after taking a picture with 3 people: Sinatra, Friedman and Feynman

This shit is nothing new though, general population is that bad.

"Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old"
 

The thing is, Eddie, that even though this guys isn't a real celebrity, would it be any better if he were? Why do people scream, cry, and want to take pictures with people they only know from a form of media? What is fame if not the adulation of the public for a person(s), they do not have any familial or social ties? So, even with 'real' celebrities, that seems pretty ridiculous to me.

This experiment illuminates how much people rely on social cues to inform their actions- a modern day Milgram or Zimbardo.

Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
 
Best Response
rls:
The thing is, Eddie, that even though this guys isn't a real celebrity, would it be any better if he were? Why do people scream, cry, and want to take pictures with people they only know from a form of media? What is fame if not the adulation of the public for a person(s), they do not have any familial or social ties? So, even with 'real' celebrities, that seems pretty ridiculous to me.

This experiment illuminates how much people rely on social cues to inform their actions- a modern day Milgram or Zimbardo.

Yeah, this is a much more intelligent way of phrasing what I was going to say. The real question is whether it's worth it to act that way around anyone, and if you think so, isn't it more appropriate to act this way with people who benefit society (Ghandi, etc.)?

These are people who bring entertainment, however. Movie stars and musicians are famous because they bring us momentary samples of joy without intellectual investment. Their fame, however, is also as short-lived as our collective attention span. Only the greatest of entertainers may be revered beyond his lifespan or the length of his career.

The great movers of the world are remembered long after their life is over. People devote their lives to studying the men and women who do change society. Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Cleopatra, are persons who for their actions good and evil, have changed the world and have earned REAL fame (infamy).

This guy, with his 30 minutes of fame in NYC, is a nobody. He is ONE person, in ONE city, out of six BILLION people, who has earned 30 minutes of attention from persons relying solely on the SOCIAL CUES we rely on every day to command our actions. He is a blip in the radar of life, the world, and everything that happens.

TL;DR: Economics always works, in this case social economics, and this guy's shit won't last until the next day.

in it 2 win it
 

Yes, people are this stupid. I've told people that I live/work in NYC and they'll ask me if I "hang out with Justin Timberlake" because "I heard he has a restaurant there." Yes...yes I do.

Also, anyone else laughing hysterically at 0:45?

 

i have a theory: we aren't any smarter or stupider today than we were 20 or 100 years ago. it's just that social media, youtube, and other forms of new technology give the stupid people of society a platform to broadcast their stupidity to the masses.

take this for example... new york is one of the most densely populated cities in the country so the likelihood of running into some dumbasses is pretty high. edit out all the people who said "who the fuck is this guy", and put it on youtube, and viola!

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
 
Edmundo Braverman:
sayandarula:
edit out all the people who said "who the fuck is this guy", and put it on youtube, and viola!

Unintentional irony is my favorite!

c'mon gimmie a break, it's not like i'm living in france.

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
 

I think you all are a little hard on the screaming fans. It's herd mentality, or what psychologists call social proof. We've all made decisions just because there's a crowd. Marketers exploit this all the time, by claiming thousands have used their products or using testimonials from clients. We assert value to someone, or something when there's a large following because we don't have the time to make decisions by conducting due diligence. When was the last time you've bought something just because others have bought? Have you ever found yourself attracted to someone only because others are too? On a survey, women tend to be more attractive to men who aren't single. Do you judge someone's social or professional worth by how many friends they have on facebook or linkedin? Sure you do, even if you don't like to admit it.

This video was a more extreme example of social proof, but we all suffer, or even benefit, from it. Another thing this video points out is the way people react in the after-interview. They make up shit about his career in order for their actions to align with their beliefs. It's quite frightening to watch, and I'm sure we subconsciously do it all the time too.

 

Before I got into snowboarding I went with my friends to this convention where Shaun White was giving out autographs and taking pictures. I had no idea who the guy was and said I'm not going to take a picture and autograph from the person I don't even know while my friends were pissing their pants, jumping around him like little girls screaming This is awesome BRO... Do I regret it now? Yes, very much

 

I don't perceive this as legitimate evidence of social decay:

1) He's walking through Times Square, where the appearance of celebrities / TV shoots / on-location filming is regular. A herd of people concentrating in Times Square is fairly reliable evidence that a celebrity is in the area. This easily explains the number of people surrounding Brett. I would surmise that a great deal of the passer-by were simply stopping to see if it was something / someone they cared about. The vast majority kept on walking.

2) More than a million people pass through Times Square daily, and thousands are there at any given moment. No doubt Brett chose a Friday / Saturday night to maximize the apparent effect of his stunt, yet he only managed to get ~100 people to gather around him at peak levels (making the reasonable assumption that he selected the most dense moments to put in the video).

3) At that time of night, 70%+ of the people in Times Square are tourists with nothing better to do. Furthermore, given that he's standing literally in the center of the square, he'd be right in the walkway for tourists that were walking through to see the sights. For many, the glitz and glamor of visiting one of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States recalls dozens of movies / TV shows that they've seen before. Seeing celebrities around conforms with their preexisting notions of walking through Times Square; they're predisposed to believe that Brett is, in fact, a celebrity. Try the same stunt in a suburban Town Center, you're likely to have much less success.

4) As for the 8 or 10 people that he has spliced together conjuring up stories about Brett's "fame", it's completely reasonable that they legitimately mistook Brett for an actual celebrity. Particularly interesting is the repetitive mention of Spiderman - makes me wonder if the film crew influenced this response by suggesting that Brett was in Spiderman between cuts (wouldn't surprise me at all). Several are straight-up prompted by the interviewer, "What do you think of his new single?" The perceived authority of the interviewer, combined with the anxiety of being on-camera could lead even an intelligent, cultured bystander to say something silly, which they can pull out-of-context quite easily.

5) It's entirely possible that the untrue claims made about Brett starring in Spiderman or releasing new singles were made out of the desire to be on TV, and not because they actually believed they recognized Brett. Obviously, if they respond to the interviewer by saying, "I haven't the slightest idea who that is," they wouldn't be included in the final cut. Perhaps by pretending they know him, they could land themselves on TV.

6) Every single person that is interviewed shows some evidence of hesitation when answering the question, suggesting they have internal doubt about what they are saying. More evidence that they are just trying to land themselves on TV. The sole exception to this is the group of girls, who have clearly conspired and convinced each other of Brett's celebrity status ahead of time.

Not at all surprising to me.

Finally, what is the problem with celebrity admiration? People here are making the absurdly condescending-sounding accusation that admiring a celebrity is somehow artificial (as opposed to the substantiated admiration of other human beings?). There is an enormous difference between admiring a celebrity and worshiping a supernatural entity - namely, most celebrities have substantial, objective, and tangible evidence of their existence.

With exceptions, a great deal of celebrities tend to be among the most talented / attractive / well-received artists in their respective fields. Why should it be artificial for the movie-goer to admire his or her favorite actor? Or the avid music-listener to admire his or her favorite musician? How is that any less legitimate than admiring a person in a senior social / corporate / governmental position?

Personally, I believe that most people condescend upon people that admire celebrities because it gives them an artificial feeling of intellectual superiority. Mostly because they understand precisely the sensation that causes someone to walk over and check out the film set nearby or see what the crowd is surrounding. It's a novel occurrence, you have some spare time, why not? Just because you don't admire many "pop culture" celebrities doesn't make it a "lower-order intellectual pursuit".

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 

Also, what is with the obsession with lumping together large cross-sections of the population, producing some absurdly generalized straw-man against them, then mocking them as evidence of "the stupidity of society".

This is on the same level as political smear tactics and the news that drives election results. No one is above these decidedly human emotions. Shockingly, it seems everyone has "unbelievably stupid" footage of everyone that holds any belief contrary to their own.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 
NorthSider:
Also, what is with the obsession with lumping together large cross-sections of the population, producing some absurdly generalized straw-man against them, then mocking them as evidence of "the stupidity of society".

This is on the same level as political smear tactics and the news that drives election results. No one is above these decidedly human emotions. Shockingly, it seems everyone has "unbelievably stupid" footage of everyone that holds any belief contrary to their own.

Relax, Francis.

 

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