Is this the reason democracy can't work? Study find humans are too dumb to pick the r

[UtwigMU]

t's a study that would have been music to the ears of Hitler, Stalin and the rest of the 20th century's brutal dictators.

But it may make uncomfortable reading for the rest of us.

Scientists have suggested the theory of democracy has an unfortunate flaw - that most of the public are just too stupid to pick the right candidate.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1nuVL3ZuK

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2108341/Is-reason-democracy-work-Study-humans-dumb-pick-right-person-lead-us.html

[KRSESQ]

The Dunning-Kruger Effect.

I wonder what the distribution of non-voters in the sample is?

Scott Adams admitted in one of his books that he never votes because he's simply not interested in politics and is too ignorant of the issues to add anything but randomness to the result. That's probably exactly the way it should be.

Anyway, at any given time theoretically the dumb and the smart reach equilibrium and the least offensive candidate ends up winning. Not necessarily the best candidate but hopefully not the worst.

[cjolley]

The Dunning-Kruger Effect.

This is the entire reason Fox News was formed.
You know, the "news" channel that leaves you knowing less than if you hadn't heard the "news" at all.

[Jessterw]

I imagine most of the ignorant masses in our state get their news from Fox

[Brian Ellis]

Gray propounded this idea in the 18th century:

Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise!

I tend to agree: at this moment, on a local forum, there is an acrid debate as to whether non-Cypriot residents should have the right to vote. Needless to say, the most vociferous ones to say so are those Brit ex-pats who cannot write simple sentences in English, tending to rather extreme right-wingism, and who haven't a clue about local (or any) politics or issues. These guys (perhaps 30% of the ex-pats here) make me cringe when I see/hear them expounding their ignorance. They are probably the type who would not watch even Fox News, unless it shows two sets of 11 idiots kicking a ball about (when they are not kicking their opponents when the ref isn't looking).