I am guessing that the real lesson here is not for the susceptible youngsters, but for the wise elders who watched it all and didn’t do much: if you notice an issue like that, speak up, take action, and protect the potential victims.
Figuring out this kind of risk is probably something that people only learn after they actually witness something bad happen. (Until then, it just feels like bias against doing unusual things.)
Reading about it does not help much, because (1) System 1 versus System 2; when it actually happens to you, it feels different; and (2) there is always some technical difference between the situation you read about and the situation that happens in your neighborhood, which can be used as an argument that “this is different”, until you actually get burned and then you see how the similarities were sufficient and the differences were superficial. For example, once you make the analogy to cults, someone is guaranteed to object “but Ziz is not religious”, etc. Also, contrarianism is high status, common wisdom is low status; talking common sense among clever people is totally inviting them to get status points by mocking you.
Before the bad things actually happen, “a wise elder warning about dangers” is merely “an old man yelling at clouds”. I could totally see myself in that role if I lived in Bay Area, and I would willingly take the status hit, but I am not sure it would actually change the outcome.
Figuring out this kind of risk is probably something that people only learn after they actually witness something bad happen. (Until then, it just feels like bias against doing unusual things.)
Reading about it does not help much, because (1) System 1 versus System 2; when it actually happens to you, it feels different; and (2) there is always some technical difference between the situation you read about and the situation that happens in your neighborhood, which can be used as an argument that “this is different”, until you actually get burned and then you see how the similarities were sufficient and the differences were superficial. For example, once you make the analogy to cults, someone is guaranteed to object “but Ziz is not religious”, etc. Also, contrarianism is high status, common wisdom is low status; talking common sense among clever people is totally inviting them to get status points by mocking you.
Before the bad things actually happen, “a wise elder warning about dangers” is merely “an old man yelling at clouds”. I could totally see myself in that role if I lived in Bay Area, and I would willingly take the status hit, but I am not sure it would actually change the outcome.