Honestly, that's a tough one. We had it relatively easy. There was the usual mainstream media propaganda, but the Internet of the time offered a place for honest conversation. That's scarce now and under constant threat. I don't see anything on the horizon replacing it unless the Euro censorship pushes drive everyone to the darkweb, which would probably be the best outcome. Not to go full black-pill, but think about it:
Any expert that disagrees is stripped of title and exiled from their field, so all the "experts" agree.
If a book disagrees, it's removed from sale.
If someone disagrees on any remotely mainstream platform, they're banned.
Teachers are removed from teaching if they don't toe the line.
Even churches parrot the new dogma.
IRL socializing is less common than it was so even personal experience is more rare.
What are the odds that someone on the younger side is functionally literate even if they make an above-average effort to be informed? And it's by design, outside of their control. What sane control information do they have to cross-check things against? It's bleak. Unless you have a root of trust, you're going to be cross-checking garbage against garbage. If you get lucky enough, maybe you accidentally come across enough truth that one day it clicks and upends everything you know, but I don't think that's especially common.
Even in the Soviet Union people could still properly read, and that was a place where you couldn't tell jokes without going to jail. I don't think the environment of the times is much excuse.
This isn't something that has to be handed to you. It's a matter of effort. The true problem we have is laziness and complacency
I think we're arguing past one another. I'm not arguing that we don't have a laziness and complacency issue. I'm saying that it's become more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Per effort, the achieved literacy is less. The laziness and complacency compounds with it.
Even in the Soviet Union people could still properly read
Sure. Now increase the number of books they had access to by a factor of 10,000 but make all the new ones a mix of propaganda, AI-generated nonsense, and bad fanfic.
I'm not trying to absolve them of their lack of effort. I'm just saying they're in a markedly different situation than people born 20+ years prior.
And I'm pointing out that in living memory there existed a tyrannical society whereby nothing existed except state dictated information and we still had higher quality people than we do now. I lived through this tyrannical society myself, although the tail end of it thankfully for me. Shit was worse than it is now overall.
The sludge that is the internet isn't the proximate cause here imo.
Yes it's shitty. Yes the internet is a pale shade of what it once was and most things of use have been wrung out of it and replaced with junk.
But that's not why idiots try to cook chicken in Pepto Bismal.
I want to point out that we have been deliberately teaching people how to read incorrectly for a long time now. The increasing illiteracy rates are a feature, not a bug for the elite.
Apparently they can’t even conceive of the idea. That’s what happens when you lower your societal standards to the level of a species that never invented the written word.
Its not that they can't learn, its that they literally need to unlearn the incorrect methods they were taught. Which is substantially harder to do then simply learning a new skill.
At what point does functional illiteracy become their own fault?
Honestly, that's a tough one. We had it relatively easy. There was the usual mainstream media propaganda, but the Internet of the time offered a place for honest conversation. That's scarce now and under constant threat. I don't see anything on the horizon replacing it unless the Euro censorship pushes drive everyone to the darkweb, which would probably be the best outcome. Not to go full black-pill, but think about it:
What are the odds that someone on the younger side is functionally literate even if they make an above-average effort to be informed? And it's by design, outside of their control. What sane control information do they have to cross-check things against? It's bleak. Unless you have a root of trust, you're going to be cross-checking garbage against garbage. If you get lucky enough, maybe you accidentally come across enough truth that one day it clicks and upends everything you know, but I don't think that's especially common.
Even in the Soviet Union people could still properly read, and that was a place where you couldn't tell jokes without going to jail. I don't think the environment of the times is much excuse.
This isn't something that has to be handed to you. It's a matter of effort. The true problem we have is laziness and complacency
I think we're arguing past one another. I'm not arguing that we don't have a laziness and complacency issue. I'm saying that it's become more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Per effort, the achieved literacy is less. The laziness and complacency compounds with it.
Sure. Now increase the number of books they had access to by a factor of 10,000 but make all the new ones a mix of propaganda, AI-generated nonsense, and bad fanfic.
I'm not trying to absolve them of their lack of effort. I'm just saying they're in a markedly different situation than people born 20+ years prior.
And I'm pointing out that in living memory there existed a tyrannical society whereby nothing existed except state dictated information and we still had higher quality people than we do now. I lived through this tyrannical society myself, although the tail end of it thankfully for me. Shit was worse than it is now overall.
The sludge that is the internet isn't the proximate cause here imo.
Yes it's shitty. Yes the internet is a pale shade of what it once was and most things of use have been wrung out of it and replaced with junk.
But that's not why idiots try to cook chicken in Pepto Bismal.
I want to point out that we have been deliberately teaching people how to read incorrectly for a long time now. The increasing illiteracy rates are a feature, not a bug for the elite.
If–from birth–you’re never trained to read, how can it be your fault?
Adults can't learn? Teenagers can't learn?
Nobody can achieve anything of their own accord, it has to be handed to you?
Apparently they can’t even conceive of the idea. That’s what happens when you lower your societal standards to the level of a species that never invented the written word.
Of course. "Democracy" can have no other outcome.
Once you decide that the bar is "still breathing", then that is always and inevitably going to happen.
Its not that they can't learn, its that they literally need to unlearn the incorrect methods they were taught. Which is substantially harder to do then simply learning a new skill.