Be in the Minority

Yesterday in the comment section on AVC.com I came across a surprising thread:

So there are roughly 200k people who read Fred's blog daily, and of that readership, 5% or 10k drop down into the comments.

Since there have been maybe 200 readers max who have posted more than one comment, that would mean only 0.001% of readers engage in commenting. Of course the core cast of the commentariat represents an even smaller minority of overall readers.

Whilst it has always been clear that commenters were a small minority of overall readers, I was as surprised as Jason was that so few readers make it to the comment section.

That said, it feels good to be in the minority in this case, because - as I have said numerous times over the years - there is so much wisdom and value shared within that comment section.

But the question arises: Why do so few readers of the blog make it down into the comment section in the first place?

Jason thinks it may be a function of limited time, but DJL thinks it's a matter of indifference.

I'm not sure if there's anything as thought-provoking today as the fact that reading, listening to, and considering other opinions and viewpoints is becoming even more uncommon.

Like DJL, I think a lot of people attribute this fact to a growing ignorance and indifference in the "stupid" majority of society. I initially thought that way too.

But after thinking a little more, why should people care? There is certainly no immediate incentive to care, and if there is a long-term incentive, it is so bloody far away as to be rendered meaningless.

If you want others to care about different opinions and viewpoints, you're going to have to pay them to do so. 

Now that is an extreme opinion. One that no more than a handful of people probably hold. But *that* is the kind of minority I want to be in.