this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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A Boring Dystopia
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what's the concrete advantage of the average person reading at a high level is, past some sort of weird elitism?
they clearly haven't needed the skill in their lives, or their reading level wouldn't have "atrophied" over time, so what's the point?
i also don't particularly care how well the average adult has their multiplication tables memorised
I'm not sure I'd trust someone who reads like a 11/12 yo with signing potentially life changing (not in a good way) contracts.
I don't care how good your reading level is: unless you've studied law, you shouldn't trust anybody but a lawyer to correctly parse a life-changing contract.
Do you think lawyers are supergeniuses who've memorized every law and case file? Maybe ones who charge $750 to take a dump, but not the lawyer you're talking to.
Usually the basic contract lawyer you talk with has seen your issue a few times before and just looks it up online for more details. Or they just wing it. They're a second opinion who may or may not be valuable, depending on how much research you've done.
Because it's an area with technical terms that are easy to misconstrue, with a lot of misinformation online for somebody trying to DIY contract law.
Do I think it's impossible for somebody to correctly parse a contract? No, obviously not. But if you're dealing with a "life changing" contract, why would you fuck around?
How would you find out which lawyer to hire?
Would someone with good reading skills be more or less susceptible to online misinformation?
Would someone with good reading skills be more or less able to read a simple (non-life changing) contract?
I have no idea what answer you're expecting that would involve "my Grade-level reading ability"
Ability to detect misinformation online has nothing to do with the metric described in the headline.
Most people just choose not to read contracts that don't matter, whether they can or not. When was the last time you read a EULA?
They also tend to be fairly tightly constrained legally, since obviously society couldn't function properly if the majority of people weren't able to enter into the majority of contracts.
Do you have no idea why being able to read at a basic level would be relevant when communicating with a lawyer?
How would you go about disproving misinformation? How would you research if the claims in a video are true or not true?
And lawyers tend to talk to other lawyers so they have insider knowledge and a familiarity with contracts that typically helps them spot incongruities quicker.