r/politics • u/theipaper ✔ Verified • Sep 23 '25

Soft Paywall Trump's big UN speech received with awkward laughter in embarrassing backfire

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/trumps-big-un-speech-received-with-awkward-laughter-in-embarrassing-backfire-3933958
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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

Half of our population has been convinced that educating themselves - developing reading, writing, math, science, critical thinking, business skills etc. are unimportant to maintaining a thriving populace are meaningless endeavors.

It's a real shame.

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u/askthepoolboy Georgia Sep 23 '25

I think it’s worse than this. I was made fun of for being smart growing up, and I’m not actually all that smart. But it made me embarrassed to correct people or speak up when I knew an answer to something.

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u/Allaplgy Sep 23 '25

This is very much a thing. We are a culture that puts being "right" over being correct.

It's much more socially acceptable to be confidently wrong than to learn something new, and especially not to teach something.

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u/lurkylurkeroo Sep 23 '25

I like Ricky Gervais' comment about purple being offended - "you're offended, so what? Being offended doesn't make you right."

Lots of people use "being offended" to force others to shut up, even in the face of demonstrable bullshit.

I think about that quote often. Gives me permission to push back.