What About False Prophets (and Kooks)?

A prophet is someone who has the gift of recognizing how current behaviors, beliefs, and trends will bring calamity in the future. Prophets tell us what not to do, and predict the dire consequences that will befall us if we don’t listen.
And we don’t listen.
Yesterday, we looked at three reasons people don’t listen:
The Semmelweis Reflex, which says people reject information that contradicts longstanding beliefs. The Power of the Status Quo, which says people believe the future will always be a linear progression of the recent past.