what's your reaction when you read/hear that statement?

Poll question: split the Powerball jackpot evenly,every American gets $4.3 mil

Poll result (15 votes) that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard (c) Cliff Huxtable to Theo (2 votes) Vote hell yeah, why ain't we doin it that way? i blame Obama (1 votes) Vote another failure of the public school system (2 votes) Vote Americans are a stupid people, by & large. We pretty much believe whatever we’re told (10 votes) Vote

lack of critical thinking skills

That's not "just a simple math fail".

That's "This appeals to me so I will not question or examine and I'm forwarding this shit because it sounds smart."

I’m betting plenty of people aren’t even DOING the math. They hear someone say it or see a post and just run with it without question.

IMO it’s indicative of a far more insidious issue because more than bad math or a lack of common sense it’s a complete lack of critical thinking. You have to try to fail and frankly I don’t think people are trying at all when it comes to spreading this sort of misinformation. I’m sure there are plenty of people who see it, agree, take a second look, and realize their error and that’s simple human error.

But when people see it, don’t bother to do the math, spread it, and refuse to accept that they made a mistake in their math (or lack of) or didn’t bother to check the information before spreading it? That’s far more than a math fail.

***for the record, I'm not saying this particular bit of misinformation is something massively detrimental to society, but I am saying it's a microcosm of the general mentality that spreads this sort of thing.

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

I made the same miscalculation at first. Once I thought about for more than a few seconds, I realized my error.

I generally stay away from social media, so I can't speak for the nonsense that gets passed around on those platforms. Just remember tho... folks on social media are still cracking themselves up by photoshopping Jordan's face onto other people's bodies or posting pictures of a puppet frog drinking tea with un-witty captions.

And I see it as a distinction without a difference. Whatever the underlying catalyst, now have a culture of misinformation and half truths that is readily observable on a large scale coupled with a generally equal resistance to correction. Again, I'm speaking to the larger ramifications of this mentality in general far more than I'm harping on the specific Powerball math nonsense.

Take the Mandela Effect, for example: people are so resistant to the notion that their memory isn't quite what they would like it to be that they would rather take a strong stance that the timeline has shifted or Hitler did some wacky occult sci-fi hullabaloo and parallel universes are merging because, by god, it's Interview with A Vampire, NOT Interview With THE Vampire. It's BerenSTEIN, not BerenSTAIN, because, by all that is holy, that's how they remember it.

Rather than accept that people tend to embellish in even small ways and likewise tend to misunderstand how the human memory actually works, they choose to believe that this is all caused be elements of two universes getting swapped out.

So, again: people see something that sounds correct, don't bother to question it, and pass it along. It's not "malice" per say but it is lazy and generally harmful to varying degrees, dependent upon the overall significance of the information being misrepresented.

That's enough to get a bag of the 7-Eleven size Welch's Fruit snacks, which actually wouldn't be that bad of a thing to happen.

idk, i might at least take the day

...I think it comes out to a little over $1 per person. So you could buy every person in America a bag of Funions. And maybe a pack of Now and Laters.

are told they are wrong, they simply say where they heard it from. They didn't even stop to consider for a second why it was wrong.

voters. The same people who spread that bullshit probably makeup a sizeable portion of the Trump base.

This isn’t a simple math fail.

It’s a shining example of people of people simply believing what they hear because it’s what they want to hear. People just hear/read some shit that sounds appealing and there’s not even a subconscious level of analysis.

It’s truly terrifying when you realize these are people who have the ability to vote and even more terrifying when you realize there is a guy out there who caters strongly to this sort of thinking and could be elected because of it.

I swear if there was an Idiocracy prequel it would start with a Trump speech followed by a scene of people sharing that powerball bullshit.

.

Even if the meme is true people will reject it if the message contradicts their preconceived notions.

http://i.imgur.com/uJOc8iA.jpg

http://power98fm.com/2016/01/11/powerball-math-1-3-billion-divided-by-300-million-is-actually-4-33/

Most of the postings I saw were people clowning it and saying folks were stupid for believing it.

Maybe I just saw it late after the meme had run its course.
But this feels like someone just posted the picture (probably sarcastically) and people attributed to the general public.

>But this feels like someone just posted the picture (probably
>sarcastically) and people attributed to the general public.

Perhaps the ever-present They/Them/Powers That Be did this as part of their insidious plan to distract us from their devious plot to, uh, I dunno, some trade agreement bullshit that will lead to the one world government or whatever. I dunno. Just pick a Star Wars political plot point and have it be that.

I mean, maybe. Maybe some dude was bored out of his mind and decided to see how many dumb people will spread dumb information. Doubtful, but I suppose it's possible.

I didn't realize there was an actual meme. where is it?

I replied with "that's not how numbers work"
Her reply was "it would still help alot of people"
:/

***
I'm tryna be better off, not better than...

people pounced on them as if they were serious, ignoring anything they wrote along with it that made it obvious they were joking

I'm actually pleasantly surprised i didn't see a serious one, though i haven't checked the people i dropped from showing up in my newsfeed

divide 1.6B by 255 and every "Américan" gets 4.3M.

Don't yall know nothin? lol

it was actually true.

...or even questioning the math, then I assume they believe it.

I had probably 5-6 folks post it on my timeline with no comment.

Then maybe another 5 jumped on it and posted another meme showing the math was wrong.