Faith in humanity

[RavenSmith]

I'm getting close to losing faith in the future of our species. Living in Texas, I've met more than a few people who flat out refuse to investigate evidence that contradicts their world view.

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1. I'm acquaintances with an anti-vaccination advocate. No matter how much evidence, reasoned argument, or consequentialist rhetoric I provided, the final exchange from her was "Neither of us are willing to change our position. I will not be responding to this or any other threads with you concerning vaccines."
I can't agree to disagree. If I'm wrong, I'm fucking WRONG. I would hope to any given deity that someone would care about me enough to correct me. I can't comprehend how someone can not only be comfortable with bad faith, but actively pursue and protect it. It keeps me up at night and it makes me ashamed to carry 46 chromosomes.
2. My own mother is a conspiracy theorist. I can point out her logical fallacies all day long, but it doesn't matter. I can hold my phone up to her face with contradictory evidence and she looks at the ceiling while claiming that my phone's screen is too small to show a proper video. I've been to Afghanistan and I don't think I was as pissed over there as I was on that particular night. It's humiliating and frustrating and invokes far too many emotions for what should be a simple exchange and examination of facts.
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The foundation of my personal ethics hinges on the premise that humans are, at the core, a species that can improve itself. We have neuroplasticity and can adapt to new information. We can learn. We take pain seriously, be it mental or physical. We seek what is true simply because it is unreasonable to do anything else. Because humans are capable of organizing and imposing order among chaos, any observing entity should therefore do it's utmost to support said species in it's endeavors.
But these seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Why should I help a species that won't help itself?

Why should I care about animals that don't care about anything other than brainstem dopamine?
Why should I strive to educate those who refuse to learn?
Some people are more concerned with food and clean water than quantum mechanics. I get it and I'm not blaming them.

But I expect better of humans in the age of the internet. I'm not the bastion of enlightenment. I can't even perform basic calculus yet. But I still expect better of my species.

Is that wrong?

[Prometheus]

But I still expect better of my species.

Is that wrong?

 

It's never wrong to expect better. Just don't berate others (or yourself) too much when they don't meet them, we're all only human.

[Phi for All]

All those people were necessary to give you an enlightened perspective. Negative examples can teach, and sometimes we understand those lessons better having come to them from a different angle.

 

Be careful of truth, capital T or not. It's not what science is after. The only truth I see here is that everybody seems to be necessary at some point or other.

 

If you want to be a Humanist, I think you need to look at humanity, not humans.

[dimreepr]

Why should I strive to educate those who refuse to learn?

 

You have to be sure you understand what you seek teach.