How to Fix Super Skepticism in Seven Steps

A brief look at a dangerous issue

One of the most disheartening things about the Information Age is how much damage it’s done to basic critical thinking principles. It’s turned some very smart people into what I’d lovingly refer to as Super Skeptics.

Super Skeptics™ are ordinarily smart people whose basic trust in traditional institutions has been extraordinarily eroded. They have been leveraged by the media, politicians, activists, and other institutionalized narrative machines, and have “woken up” to the manipulative power and money hungry tactics employed by many of these institutions. They are now outspoken activists looking for reform. They have thus broken off almost completely from the mainstream narrative framework and are right now carving out new mediums to propagate a conversation on their terms.

They’re right to be frustrated.
They’re right to be angry.
They’re right to call out fake news.
They’re right to be skeptics.

They’re not right to be Super Skeptics.

Super Skeptics throw the baby out with the bath water in a bad way. They’ve ironically applied extreme source checking philosophies in both directions.

Let me speak in generalities to make the point quickly.

The newly trusted institutions can do no wrong. Their data and/or stories are accepted in microseconds. Skepticism is, for the most part, out the window.

The traditional institutions are exactly the opposite for the Super Skeptic. They can do or say precisely nothing right. Every article of speech is suspect and worth the stiffest, unyielding criticism.

Now, here’s the rub. The Super Skeptic, who’s employed these demonstrably awful epistemic norms, often doesn’t know they’re a Super Skeptic. Unfortunately, they are stuck in what seems to be a justified trust in the new, shiny institution (because they’ve been misled for so long by the others), and are pragmatically left with no other good option (because they’ve been taught algebra rather than critical thinking skills and are missing the leisure time to properly hunt down contextual source material).

There’s a lot to say about all this, and it’s a problem not to be underestimated. It could cause long-term societal damage.

But, I said this would be a brief look, so I’ll get to my admittedly simplistic fixes to the Super Skeptic problem.

First, for my Super Skeptic friends (if you think you may be one):

1. Spend some time watching videos on critical thinking and an intro to epistemology (study of knowledge).
2. Try to expose yourself to a wide variety of viewpoints on a particular issue.
3. Once you find yourself convinced of a viewpoint on a particular issue, be most skeptical of that one. Dig for the most fundamental source material you can find.
4. For pragmatic purposes, require extraordinary evidence to believe extraordinary claims.

Second, for the media and others leveraging information disingenuously:

1. Stop it.
2. Admit you are the root of the problem.
3. Apologize for your lack of integrity and ethics because you know exactly what you’ve done.