Monday, September 11, 2017

"Feedback"


It always tickles me that some people seem genetically predisposed to being a troll. Whatever field of human endeavour or pastime you pick, you will always find some set of people that will rail against it for no other reason than what appears to be hyper-insecurity. 

This kind of reaction is particularly prevalent around activities involving cash and subjectivity, where trolls hide any attack behind "opinion" allied with appeals to incredulity about "value for money" (itself a subjective measure). It's essentially the difference between cynicism and skepticism; positions that are often confused, but easily distinguished. Skepticism is more often than not a simple request for (more) evidence before believing something is true, whereas cynicism is most effective without reference to evidence at all. A true skeptic will be neutral, retaining an open mind to changing their position should good evidence be forthcoming, but a true cynic will almost invariably have a closed mind and hold an opinion regardless of evidence. Also the cynic will often revert to irrationally attacking the people involved rather than the idea itself, cynics are often very solipsistic in their approach, they are often astounded that people can hold views on things that counter their own but usually seem unable to justify their own position.

I'm sure we all know people that scoff at the idea of experimentation when it comes to what they eat and drink, they know what they like and good for them! I envy them, their lives must be so simple. However, many of us are not wired that way and enjoy paying more to experience different and new tastes, and boy does it upset them. I came across a great example of this recently (see image above) Brew Dog (a Scottish craft-brewery) have created a set of tee shirts that showcases some examples at the more "troll-like" end of their customer feed-back spectrum. I think this is a really good idea, trolls hate it when you make fun of them so getting it all out into the open in a humorous way like this is the perfect antidote to the negative vibe created by the cynics among us, now all we need to do is convince them to come up with a decent argument or keep their "opinions" to themselves.

No comments: