Reading the comments section of virtually any news source on social media is the type of sobering experience that calls into question whether or not this whole human civilization experiment was actually worth it. Reading the comments section of one’s hometown newspaper is even worse, like cringing with embarrassment over a drunk uncle at a wedding reception propositioning all the bridesmaids or a grandparent with full-blown dementia saying horrible, casually racist things at the Thanksgiving dinner table. I think newspaper comments sections are the primary contributor to what social psychologists call pluralistic ignorance, the inaccurate belief that extreme outlier views … Continue reading The Guy from High School Rule