The power of stupidity

First, I want to point out this wonderful post here.

That being done, I'll add my own take on the problem of ignorance and stupidity.

Part of the problem, as I see it, is that we've lost sight of the American Dream. Oh, we still talk about it, but it doesn't mean what it once did. Once upon a time, the American Dream was to better yourself and your station through hard work. If people couldn't pull themselves up, they worked hard so that their children would have more opportunities than they did. People tried to educate themselves, because education meant better employment, and a better standard of living.

Now, the American Dream means something new. Everyone wants something for nothing, and not just a little something. It isn't that people want everything handed to them for free, they expect it. The ignorant among us expect that the answers to their questions will appear in their heads without any actual thought required. And that's a problem, because most people's first instincts are wrong. The brain is hard-wired to have logical fallacies, and it takes a great deal of effort to overcome that.

I believe that I already covered the problem of effort.

I don't know what the fix for this is. After all, this is just a blog post, and it isn't as if I've spent hours doing research. This is an opinion. So, how can I berate those who accept their first thought as true when I'm doing much the same? Simply put, because if someone shows me that I'm wrong, I'll admit it.