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Comment by austincheney | Hacker News Reader

I am above average intelligence and nothing pisses me off more than stupid people (especially stupid people gathering in large numbers). I can withstand nearby gunshots or explosions without emotional stress (I am military), but stupid people proclaiming their awesome wisdom really alters my emotional state.

I had to stop visiting Ars Technica. Their news is great, but I wish I could turn the comments at the bottom completely off. Their comments (really from any news site) are a marvel in the study of stupid people coming together (commonly referred to as an echo chamber).

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Speaking for myself, I would feel pretty dumb if I got angry due to echo chamber comments on online articles. Why would you cause stress to yourself after reading vapid comments, when it's not mandatory to scroll to the bottom of the article/fb post and read them?

> Why would you cause stress to yourself after reading vapid comments

I am not a behavioral health researcher, and so cannot answer as to why people get mad at things.

Interesting that you shared this anecdote just now.

I've been an Ars reader for nearly 2 decades and noticed the comment quality drastically declining over the last few years. Used to mostly be people sharing interesting POV and polite discussion, now there seems to be much more policing of a 'pro science and technology' (but often inaccurate) viewpoint.

As a smart person it is unavoidable to be surrounded by people dumber than you.

In general it's not very smart to be angry at unavoidable realities.

One perspective shift I find helps is to not think of myself as normal and others as stupid, but to think of others as normal and myself as extra gifted in this area.

In general it's not very smart to get mad at nearly anything. This isn't a revealing or interesting conclusion.

1Blocker will hide the comments section of most sites. Or, if and when your outlook matures, you’ll find more productive uses for your rage. “Because stupid people...” is the lazy thinker’s way out. To paraphrase Jesus, “the stupid you will always have with you.”

> Or, if and when your outlook matures

My outlook will not change as I am sure you will not mature above anger after being punched in the face. I do not suspect you are objectively considering the behavior.

Getting mad because there are dumb people is like getting upset because rain exists. They're both forces of nature (and ones that you can choose to avoid for the most part).

The same could be said of any cause for getting mad.

Install "Stylish" browser extension and apply any bit of CSS you like to any page you want. You can hide whatever, resize, reshape, recolor.

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