Learning About the Intelligence of Readership Via Comments

I’ve arrived at a conclusion after having observed the phenomenon of comments in various and sundry blogs and websites: one can discover the intelligence of the blog owner, magazine editor, website manager, and forum organizer by the quality (or lack thereof) contained in the comments section (provided there is one). Or, to say it differently, bloggers and magazines and forums of low intelligence attract commentators of equally low or lesser intelligence.

Herd’s of a feather flock together, in sum.

I’ve come to this conclusion because I’ve spent a good while reading such materials. For instance, if you visit a forum you will generally find that persons who comment are fairly similar in outlook and disposition. From time to time an interlocutor will make an observation and then the herd will circle and attack. The same is true of blog comments. The herd inevitably finds itself saying essentially the same things that others in the herd say. And the same is true of magazine websites.

For example, in the ongoing discussion on the BAR website concerning the ‘Talpiot Tomb’ nonsense there are a veritable barrage of ignorant and ill informed comments. The interlocutor, in this case Joe Zias, protests the lunacy and is immediately and incessantly attacked.

This is a fascinating example of the thesis I am setting forth that you can learn a great deal about the intelligence of a readership via the comments found on a particular site. In the case of BAR (and a great number of other comment pages) you discover that 1) rather a lot of ‘aliases’ are used. An alias is a means by which a person hides him or herself, in a delightfully cowardly way, behind the mantle of anonymity. Anonymity, such persons believe, allows them to make the most outrageous and unsubstantiated claims without fear of having to give an account of themselves.

Like unprovenanced artifacts, however, unattributable comments have neither value nor worth and cannot be taken seriously by anyone. They are the academic equivalent of ‘www.juicycampus.com’ - a site devoted to slander and stupidity.

2), the same claims are made and the same false arguments are offered over and over again. The persons who simply parrot the ignorance of others exhibit the same sort of insanity manifested by a person who expects different results when the actions performed are the same.

Ignorant texts, posts, essays, and articles attract persons of little intelligence. And when sense and sensibility are injected into the discussion by someone of ability, they are instantly attacked, surrounded by the herd, demonized, and disregarded. This is the herd mentality in its modern manifestation. And it indicates that people really do associate with their like. Ignorance loves company- since that company reinforces the ignorance held by the originator of the discussion. And in a swirling melange of perpetual ignorance, the ignorant feed off of one another.

Or, in the words of the old proverb- show me who your friends are, and I’ll show you who you are. That’s as true in ‘cyber-life’ as it is in ‘real-life’.