1. What is the Moron Filter Effect?

Let’s say you meet someone called Alex. They want to talk to you about the problems in healthcare and how patients aren’t getting the best treatment.

This is a pretty reasonable discussion to have. After all, there are a lot of problems with the modern healthcare system in many countries, such as the increasing cost inflation, increasing wait times, lack of personalized care, overworked medical staff, etc.

But then Alex tells you that the real problem causing all of these effects is the lizard people who control the insurance companies to put Bill Gates 7G in your vaccines.

At this point you stop listening. Alex is clearly a moron. Nothing they say is worth listening to even if some of the issues they have a frustration with such as long patient wait times are true.

The Moron Filter is when you lose all credibility because people think you’re just a moron.

2. So why does the Moron Filter Effect matter?

There are often many legitimate criticisms of systems and processes. Especially those which have large scale societal effects.

But you need the people who actually have the power to listen to you.

In order to get them to listen to you, you need to get past the Moron Filter.

If you sound like a moron, then people who have power will filter you out and will ignore even legitimate concerns.

3. I want to help you get past the Moron Filter

The Moron Filter Effect is one of the reasons I was motivated to start writing.

If I can help you:

• Understand how businesses actually operate;
• Recognize the deeper underlying causes of problems; and
• Come up with better criticisms that are worth listening to

Then writing this blog will have been worth it.

4. Surely the average internet business analysis can’t be that bad?

It can be, and it often is.

People have a very poor understanding of business and business processes. This means their criticism of business is therefore deeply incorrect.

CEOs and Managers don’t actually do anything!

Fiduciary duty forces companies to maximize profits!

These statements are wrong.

They do however capture an underlying frustration.

Why do companies do things a certain way? Why can’t we do things differently, especially if it seems like it would improve people’s lives or society? Why does it feel like everything is getting worse?

But if you actually want to fix the system, you need to understand why it is broken and the forces that keep it broken.

Otherwise your criticism sounds like the equivalent of blaming someone’s laziness for why they can’t walk. Rather than the fact their legs were broken in a car accident.

It’s completely missing the point. And you’re going to get caught by the Moron Filter.

5. Why bother trying to educate people?

I don’t think most people misunderstand business because they want to.

Business is difficult. And business discussion is full of people who spew platitudes and hollow arguments that can sound convincing to people who don’t know better.

Disproving bad information is also difficult.

The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.

Brandolini’s law

I don’t believe people who never had the chance to learn are worth giving up on. I’d rather at least try to provide some education. Because well, it’s not like this is exactly a popular mainstream topic.

Why let people who don’t understand how businesses work be the only teachers?

I would rather have tried than just given up.