this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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People can be idiots for forming a firm belief that something can be bad for them when all evidence and expert opinion contradicts it, even whilst due to the nocebo effect that firm belief leads to them trully feeling bad.
There isn't idiocy in feeling actual effects due to nothing else than a placebo or nocebo effect from than a strongly held belief, whilst there can be idiocy in the way one gains a belief so strong was that it actually triggers one of those effects.
So the example given by the previous poster does seem to fit a situation of people who are indeed idiots.