People are generally gullible. Most people fear originality, strive to maintain commitment, and conform to a group narrative. These are all irrational noncognitive behaviors strongly aligned to perceptions of security. It’s hard to fix stupid.
Before people obtained most of their news from social media they were getting it from pseudo journalism comedy television. The primary motivation of the supplier then was advertising revenue just as it is of social media now.
A little presumptuous to say group narratives and commitment are stupid. These are components of shared understandings of reality, which is what allows society to function and people to communicate.
It's not stupid at all, it's just no longer appropriate. For most of human existence, being cast out of the group meant almost certain death within weeks.
Just as today I suspect this is true for most people but there are some who will always figure it out and make it through. For people capable of figuring things out independence is more an opportunity than a death sentence.
Competition and survivability are great economic indicators of health. As far as self-indicative criteria the difference between independence and insanity is simply deliberation with which a decision is made based upon supporting evidence.
Some people who were regarded as crackpots to be ignored:
* Alfred Wegener (plate techtonics)
* Ernest Duchesne (antibiotics)
* Alfred Russel Wallace (evolution)
* Galileo Galilei (astronomy)
* Marc Andreessen (internet commercialization)
I believe the appropriate term for this sort of behavior is personal exceptionalism.
Before people obtained most of their news from social media they were getting it from pseudo journalism comedy television. The primary motivation of the supplier then was advertising revenue just as it is of social media now.