The Dunning-Kruger Effect is in full force these days. It posits that those with less knowledge of a subject have more certainty about the subject. For example, a layman is far more certain about the big bang than the astrophysicist. The arm chair aviation expert is far more certain of the plane crash cause than the aviator.
Tragedy struck on Wednesday night. An American Airlines flight from Kansas, landing at Washington Reagan National Airport, collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter. All passengers and crew died.
Within minutes of the plane crash, some on the right began to wildly speculate that the deep state had caused the crash to kill people. Either someone important was on the helicopter or important people were on the airplane. “Release the manifest so we can see who was on the plane,” tweeted one obsessed conspiracist.
On the left, journalists, not just activists, immediately blamed Donald Trump. Eight days before the crash, President Trump issued a hiring pause at all federal agencies. Phil Williams, an investigative reporter for News Channel 5 in Nashville, TN, rushed to tweet, “President Trump offered unprecedented buyouts to ALL federal employees at a time when studies show the FAA does NOT have enough air traffic controllers to keep us safe. More people will likely die.”
Williams deleted the tweet, but not because he rushed to direct partisan political blame. He was upset that people concluded that is what he was doing. His deletion was more “sorry you were offended by my partisanship” than “maybe my first reaction should not be political games.” Others did the same.
Arm chair aviation experts made wild conclusions, speculating on the cause, the intentions, etc. People circulated false claims about survivors, giving false hope to the families of the dead. No one could wait. Everyone needed real time answers and the laymen and armchair pundits became immediate aviation experts who dug in their heels on their opinions.
Thousands of years ago, the devil told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the forbidden fruit, they would not die. Instead, their eyes would be open to forbidden knowledge and they would be as gods. Social media plays a similar role, twisting hearts and minds. People ingest it and think they alone now see clearly. But more and more social media corrupts souls.
A prominent leftwing pundit on social media declared, to much approval, that Donald Trump and his supporters really want to torture and murder their enemies. He claimed they want to burn the constitution and kill people. He believes it. Others affirmed him. When people flee the real God for their idols, they can impute the worst into those they oppose politically. But it rots their souls.
People died tragically on Wednesday night. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters — all of them died. People were waiting at the airport to pick up friends and loved ones and, in a fiery explosion caught on tape, they never arrived. Where once people just witnessed tragedy, prayed, and move on, now they have to comment, speculate, analyze, and find meaning. We are catechized by that which we surround ourselves and too many have been catechized by true crime podcasts, conspiracy theorists, and political pundits.
As our inner-monologues and conversations we have with ourselves process the podcasts and voices that destroy mystery and offer grandiose explanations for all things, we begin to lose parts of our soul that are necessary for making it through the world. We lose the part that accepts some things never have an explanation. We lose the part that accepts sometimes bad things happen. We lose the part that accepts not everything can be wrapped up tidily with a proper protagonist and antagonist. We lose the joy that can exist in suffering.
We are not in healthy times. The twenty-four seven news cycle was a harbinger of the now always online culture of over stimulated and under processed brains. Despair is on the rise. Tragically, people have done it to themselves. The Psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God.” The unwritten part is remembering that we are not God and will not always have all the answers or power to change things.
