When facts fail
In the end, truth will out. Won’t it?
Maybe not. Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information. It’s this: Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.</em>
I keep coming up against this daily. All of us have friends that are the personification of the adage “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion; no one is entitled to their own facts”. They are the true believers, so invested in whatever they “believe” that rational thought never enters the picture. I have one friend, known him for over 25 years, who is now so rabidly conservative that his mind is like a dark cave where no light ever enters, who is dedicated to the notion that Obama and the democrats are “Progressives!” -which means “progressing toward socialism uh huh uh huh….”, and who actually believes that tax cuts raise revenue. Any attempt at correcting these notions causes him to hork up his go-to answer to everything, that somehow, Obama is a Marxist. I no longer attempt to discuss more than guitars and British rock with him anymore, nor with anyone, really, so I guess I have him to thank for saving me endless amounts of my last nerve.
But without the ability and desire to learn, evolve, adapt, isn’t life stagnant? Boring? It is to me, but I can understand how others might crave the comfort of their illusions to help them cope with a changing world. Mythology is filled with those who believed that gods lived in trees and talked to people, today these same people listen to Glenn Beck and see a world overtaken by minorities hell-bent on upsetting their way of life. Even when “drill baby drill” becomes “spill baby spill” in their own frontyard, its not the fault of a greedy, cost-cutting unregulated corporate polluter, but rather the “whackjob greens” who dared attempt to put the natural world before a corporations balance sheet. To accept any blame or responsibility for things such as the spill, or the economic collapse would mean questioning their entire world view, and they aren’t strong enough to risk it.
Again, I can’t imagine spending life nestled in my preconceptions, unwilling to grow beyond what I am today. As an example, I for many years fancied myself a libertarian. And why not? It sounds good, this notion of limited government, the free market self-regulating, etc etc…except it has never, and will never work. So why waste my time defending or believing in a system that ignores human nature? The free market, left unchecked, gives us the Gulf oil spill. I really don’t need any further evidence of the fallacy of my previous beliefs, thanks.
My “belief” at this point in my life revolves around a simple concept, that the purest state of being is that which you see in nature. Looking out my window I see birds, squirrels and chipmunks feeding. I don’t see any of them digging oil wells, or creating a derivative ponzi scheme. I can’t see any evidence of muslim birds ganging up on christian squirrels, and I can’t tell if the blue jay on the bird bath is gay or not.
Why would anyone want to live in anything less?
