Obscurantism

[Crandar]

We are probably screwed as a country. I listened to a conversation between a mechanical engineer and a PhD candidate for philosophy, both of them having studied and graduated from Greece's biggest and perhaps best university.

The first postponed his trip to Italy and marriage, because his pneumatikos (monks living outside monasteries and selling services to customers, like blessing or confessing) told him that a war between Turkey (who else?) is going to break out on Whit Monday. The reason for this prediction is that two images of Our Lady and Saint Paisios (https://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/11/25/some-greeks-turn-to-elder-paisios-prophecies-on-russia-turkey-conflict/)bled, a symbolic injury that was interpreted as a sign of war by the monks of a random monastery in Mount Athos. He's now busy buying rice and pasta in the nearby supermarket, in order not to starve to death during the upcoming war.

The PhD student was not only impressed by the prophecy, but he also congratulated him on subscribing to the Youtube channel of Neophytos (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyZRBAjtgIVJIe9wq8eYWOA/videos), a bishop in Cyprus, who regularly publishes Christian miracles and "doom is near!" prophecies. He also explained that, according to the prophecies of Paisios, Erdogan is going to be overthrown by pro-Europe democrats and that WW3 is going to break out, because of overpopulation. Thankfully, neither Greece nor Cyprus will join the fray, but exactly half the population will die in the process. The most important consequence will be the Greek conquest of Istanbul, given to us by the Russians, in order to "Hagia Sophia".

They both suspect that the ruling center-left government is going to use the war to delay the elections and perpetuate its reign. After all, they are are very warm to the conspiracy-theory of SYRIZA (the center-leftist party) giving citizenship to Roma (our alternative Eurabia theory), of chemtrails brainwashing the people and of SYRIZA outright tampering the last elections. All in vain, though, because as Paisios mentioned, "blood will be shed on the Parliament in the summer".

As a result, given this sudden outburst of nostalgically Medieval superstition from our intellectual elite, I am convinced that the future of my country is completely hopeless.

[CrossLOPER]

It really depends on your credentials and desires.

[Gilrandir]

I would say it depends on what is your occupation and if you plan to pursue it furhter or find a new one. Otherwise it looks like:
- Tell me, what shop is best to go to?
- What do you wanna buy there? Frozen pizza, pillows or shorts?
- Doesn't matter, just tell me where to go.

[a completely inoffensive name]

I met a chemical engineer student who thought BPA in water was only a problem for guys because women could handle "the extra estrogen". He graduated.

So, I would say try to improve your own, cause the grass isn't always greener.

[Beskar]

Being in the EU, Scandinavian countries are always beautiful and what I would speak if I spoke the languages... but that is the only issue with transferring within the EU, it is the spoken language.

I know you speak at least English, this opens up potentially the UK, Ireland, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand (some small ones and special cases in between). If you know French, German or Spanish, it opens up even more. Ultimately, it depends on your proficiency.

Now it comes to the simple question... what is your expertise?

If you have a short-listed/high-in-demand Job, congratulations, you are now free to move!
If you haven't? Are you in a profession that gets you a lot of money to meet the expertise standards? If so, apply!
If you got nothing significant, then this would probably limit you to the EU as you have free-movement. Best bet would be going to an EU country in the West/North.


Then comes the second biggest hurdle... Money. Immigration costs money. When I moved outside of the UK, I needed money to fund the relocation and to cover the first month of expenses (I transferred straight into a job, recruited from within the UK). On the other hand, I got a friend who moved with their partner into the UK, had enough money to buy an apartment outright, then hit the hurdle of trying to get employment. After 6 months of trying, they are stacking selves in a Morrisons to make ends meet, which they are highly overqualified for.

[Crandar]

Firstly, thank you for your suggestions. Secondly, I apologise for being misleading. My plans for the future are quite specific, the entire migration stuff was supposed to be a rhetorical device introducing the question of how university graduates are unable to perform any critical thinking whatsoever. I obviously overdid it, especially with the title, so it has been changed to avoid any future misunderstandings.

Now the OP is basically a rant, but we can still debate about why an engineer believes in childish miracles and the ramblings of an illiterate monk. In my opinion, the first factor is the extraordinary influence of the Church in Greece. Religiosity is the highest in Europe and the clergy is in a position to seriously affect the brains of the society and the youth.

Then, education is also responsible for it. Perhaps, the increased specialisation, the lost prestige of the concept of being well-cultivated and the rote memory technique of our education system can be blamed for the lack of spherical knowledge and the almost nonexistent critical thinking. After all, 1/3 (https://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/10/14/one-in-three-greeks-believes-in-chemtrails/) believes in the chemtrail conspiracy theory.

[Husar]

I met a chemical engineer student who thought BPA in water was only a problem for guys because women could handle "the extra estrogen". He graduated.

So, I would say try to improve your own, cause the grass isn't always greener.

On the market of ideas, every idea for which there is a demand is inherently valuable. Truth and ethics have no place on a market if there is no demand for them.
Truth of the market is that the idea with the highest demand is the most valuable (true) one. People used to say "whether you like rice mediterranean or mexican style is up to you, but there is only one true god", now it's "you can't just have the rice you want, whether you select judaism, christianity or some pantheism/abstract theism, it's really up to how you feel, the market of religions has many offers for any taste".
The question of some objective truth does not even come up in the process because the market implies that truth is that which has the highest demand and objectivity does not exist. Welcome to the neoliberal world. :clown:

[CrossLOPER]

I met a chemical engineer student who thought BPA in water was only a problem for guys because women could handle "the extra estrogen". He graduated.

I know people who still believe everything they hear in commercials. I also know a guy who has been a scientist for decades who believes that humans are alien-engineered creatures who were placed on this planet to be observed.

[edyzmedieval]

A serious answer to a humorous question - go to Japan. They need a skilled foreign workforce to make up the immense shortage of labour.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-05-22/japan-begins-experiment-of-opening-to-immigration

[Tuuvi]

In my opinion the anecdotes in this thread demonstrate that the assumption people will naturally develop critical thinking skills through higher education is false.

Personally I think Critical Thinking should be made a mandatory general education requirement, but that's probably never going to happen because thanks to the corporatization of the University that Husar mentioned anything that isn't directly applicable to the employment needs of the private sector, like the arts and humanities, is being cut in favor of more business friendly technical skills and job training.

In the future a Liberal Arts education will probably only be available to people who are wealthy enough to send their kids to elite private colleges. The whole situation makes me really angry. Milton Friedman and his ilk claimed that cutting government services and subordinating everything to the market would make us all freer but what's really happening is privileges that were once enjoyed by a large proportion of people like a Liberal Arts education are being gated off while the working class are turned into peons.