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Confident Fools are the Worst Kind of People
The world is not black and white
No joke — I think they are the biggest risk to global society.
Just read a post from a guy who, with unwavering conviction, insisted that “carbs make you fat”.
He’s not entirely wrong, but he’s also nowhere close to right.
And yet, with every fiber of his being, he believes it to be true. At the very least, he’s convinced himself that that’s what he needs to believe, and there’s no changing his mind about it.
People like him love black and white. It’s easier. It’s comforting. It’s also highly marketable.
Take a highly influenceable late teen, young twenty-something and try to explain to him the nuances of healthy dieting and nutrition in less than ten minutes. You can’t. It’s impossible. By the time you’ve even scratched the surface, somebody else way dumber but more confident has already sold him on the “just stop eating carbs” approach.
Why? Because “just stop eating carbs” is simple, and the guy spewing it out is so damn convincing it must be true. People don’t want to feel uncertain about things. They want to know. They want to know now. And they’re willing to believe the loudest yelling idiot out there if they have to.
