And our instinct is, too.
The latest Avengers movie is a fantastic example of a person being certain of something, while being very publicly and spectacularly wrong. It’s also a pretty good movie — worth watching if you haven’t already.
In the movie, the super-villain Thanos has a cause. He witnesses suffering all around him, caused by a lack of resources and an ever growing population, so he sets out to “sacrifice” half the population at random to liberate and enrich the lives of the remaining half. He sets out to acquire the 6 stones that together will make him all-powerful (as people do in these sorts of things), so he can snap his fingers and complete his great deed. While an idea like this isn’t unique to villains in movies – this one is relatively recent. Also Thanos has been trending as a meme recently so he’s a good target for a rant.
The reason I felt compelled to write about this villain’s ideology, is because we see the same mistake being made in many areas in the real world, at a time when we have the data to do better. Flat facts are taken out of context and used in often political narratives, aiming to evoke emotions and influence typically…
