Is anyone else disturbed by the naive and often ignorant thinking that we see in Yahoo Answers?

Question

I'm thinking in terms of ideas about men & women (gross over-generalizations about the other sex), sexual relations (many people going crazy over an obviously faulty lover) and psychology (people who are clearly depressed etc but don't even recognize it)

BTW I think the Yahoo Answers service is great...I'm just troubled by what it says about how people think (Some of them...let's not over-generalize!)

Answer 1

Geoffery, sometimes I feel like I'm taking a tour of the subconscious mind of America when I log on to Yahoo Answers. People let out all their racism, sexism, insecurity, bigotry and stupidity here - basically the drop all the filters they normally use when they go out in the public. Much of it is pretty disturbing (especially all the in-your-face White surpremacist racism eminating from some White folks here) but it's also pretty educational - we get to hear what people REALLY think, not what they think we want to hear!

Answer 2

Good question, but you need to remember you are seeing a pretty biased sample. Not to overgeneralize, but who are the type of people who have time to spend on yahoo answers? Teenagers, the unemployed, people stuck in dead end jobs, etc. The CEO of greenpeace sure doesnt have time for this crap (FYI, I am a student whose supervisor is away today, so add slackers to the list).

So obviously you are sorta seeing the worst of society on here! Yes many reasonable people might answer a few questions a day but its generally the above groups who spend ages answering many questions. And those groups are more likely to be undereducated, depressed, etc.

take heart society is probably not as bad as it seems!

Answer 3

It proves athat all the tax money being spent on sex education is a waste. Some of the Yahoo Answers are great research tools for either scocial science or the humanities students. It's an observation tool for psychology and counseling students.

Answer 4

Probably because there is an amount of privacy when using the internet. There are people (such as myself) who like to go on here and answer questions that we have actual experience with and others who just want to waste their time. Then there are the "nutjobs" who just want to rant to someone that has nothing else to do but to read/glance over it. It's better than what they get in the real world as you stated. lol...

Answer 5

I guess we get what we pay for -- meaning, this is a free service and many people who have time on their hands take the opportunity to vent on this message board. I have been helped by some terrific people, though, so I'm grateful overall for Yahoo! Answers. You just have to weed through the junk.

Answer 6

Yes, I've been dismayed at the amount of hate against the opposite gender,hate toward people from different religions and different races, and even hatred toward people from a different political affiliation. However, I'm addicted, and I have learned a lot, and come across some really intelligent and enlightened people as well.

Answer 7

I'm often blown away by some of the answers. It's made me see how lucky I am that my life is so "normal". It also makes me grateful for my husband, friends and family. They seem so well-adjusted!
But what has surprised me the most is the meanness and brutality of some of the answers. I don't understand how anyone could feel so superior to another person!

Answer 8

Very disturbed, yes. I keep telling myself that people do this for entertainment and to get a rise out of others. But the more I read, the less I'm convinced.

Answer 9

I've known most people are like this for some time. It no longer really disturbs me, just makes me a little sad. I sometimes do actually steer people who don't know this to Yahoo!Answers in hope that they'll come to that realization themselves as well.

Answer 10

yes. i have noticed it too and i hate it. in fact, i asked a question about this at one time. there are men-haters on the site, (ones who say men are pigs, men are stupid, women are always right)and other pretty sad, disturbing situations i have read about. one of them said that the world would be better off without men.

i think i might have met a misogynist or two also.

i don't know who these people are and where they are from, and what kind of life they have had. all i know is that their words are pretty disturbing, and they are ruled by emotion rather than rationality, wisdom and experience.