It's crazy how quickly they reach for the "ur 2 dum" argument when any real prodding and they demonstrate their lack of knowledge on a subject.
Went through similar frustration after 9-11, at that point, it was always "Oh, so you're smarter than all the master engineers at NIST?" to which I would always respond, "No, but I know enough physics to know that they knew they were lying." (and have stepped through how they fabricated their lie in such a way that most experts in an area would focus on the topic of their expertise and be satisfied).
This was an influencing factor in why I later decided to become an engineer (the larger factor being my soon to be wife's pushing that "you're smart enough and I don't want your body broken by the time you're 50"). Meanwhile, ALL the "dumb" construction workers I would talk about 9-11 with unanimously from their own perspectives could elaborate why the collapse could not have happened with the explanation provided.
Most of them really do believe that education = intelligence, and so because they have the alphabet soup after their names is like little gold star bonuses. Which is funny because I had started looking into getting some of those certifications to realize how little significance they actually hold.
I remember once on a job where the engineer on site would be informed about an issue with the plans and he would instantly start tapping that pinkie ring on the desk to say "I'm the smart one here." While a contractor was trying to explain the issue, I know a couple others brought it up and same response. 6 months and ~1 million dollars later the machine arrives. Not only was the concrete pad it was supposed to sit on too small, it didn't even fit in the room built to hold it.
Anyway, those smug pseudo-intellectuals are probably among the last group to ever accept that their whole world view was wrong.
It's crazy how quickly they reach for the "ur 2 dum" argument when any real prodding and they demonstrate their lack of knowledge on a subject.
Went through similar frustration after 9-11, at that point, it was always "Oh, so you're smarter than all the master engineers at NIST?" to which I would always respond, "No, but I know enough physics to know that they knew they were lying." (and have stepped through how they fabricated their lie in such a way that most experts in an area would focus on the topic of their expertise and be satisfied).
This was an influencing factor in why I later decided to become an engineer (the larger factor being my soon to be wife's pushing that "you're smart enough and I don't want your body broken by the time you're 50"). Meanwhile, ALL the "dumb" construction workers I would talk about 9-11 with unanimously from their own perspectives could elaborate why the collapse could not have happened with the explanation provided.
Most of them really do believe that education = intelligence, and so because they have the alphabet soup after their names is like little gold star bonuses. Which is funny because I had started looking into getting some of those certifications to realize how little significance they actually hold.
I remember once on a job where the engineer on site would be informed about an issue with the plans and he would instantly start tapping that pinkie ring on the desk to say "I'm the smart one here." While a contractor was trying to explain the issue, I know a couple others brought it up and same response. 6 months and ~1 million dollars later the machine arrives. Not only was the concrete pad it was supposed to sit on too small, it didn't even fit in the room built to hold it.
Anyway, those smug pseudo-intellectuals are probably among the last group to ever accept that their whole world view was wrong.