Backfiring (1 Viewer)

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The sociological reason so many Americans are ignoring facts.

An intriguing sociological reason so many Americans ignore facts - Business Insider

There is more than one reason this is happening. But one reason I think the alternative-facts industry has been so effective has to do with a concept social scientists call the "backfire effect."

As a rule, misinformed people do not change their minds once they have been presented with facts that challenge their beliefs. But beyond simply not changing their minds when they should, research shows that they are likely to become more attached to their mistaken beliefs. The factual information "backfires." When people don't agree with you, research suggests that bringing in facts to support your case might actually make them believe you less.

In other words, fighting the ill-informed with facts is like fighting a grease fire with water. It seems like it should work, but it's actually going to make things worse.


Don't be a grease fire.
 
i can almost guarantee that the part of the brain that lights up for religious faith also lights up for other belief systems (information, culture, sports, et al)

some get more brain stroke for learning new things - others get more for holding on to comfortable ideas

the march of history clearly shows that the "learning new things" folk win in the end, but that is a generational process much more than a 'single person changing' process
 
but the idea of 'avoiding the backfire/greasefire' seems misplaced
sure the specific person you are discussing issues with might never come around, but there are plenty of spectators for these types of discussions, and solid arguments can sway the spectator
 
but the idea of 'avoiding the backfire/greasefire' seems misplaced
sure the specific person you are discussing issues with might never come around, but there are plenty of spectators for these types of discussions, and solid arguments can sway the spectator

The reasoning behind every creationism/evolution debate I've ever involved myself in.
 
In other news, scientists have discovered that you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
 
but the idea of 'avoiding the backfire/greasefire' seems misplaced
sure the specific person you are discussing issues with might never come around, but there are plenty of spectators for these types of discussions, and solid arguments can sway the spectator

This is why I've started to respond to facebook friends when they post obvious lies. I don't ever get anywhere with them, but other people who are to busy or lazy to look up information for themselves need to know that the crap they're posting is BS. It's my very small and insignificant contribution to truth. Lol.
 
So, without reading the article, what's the solution? Just walk away?
 
I have witnessed this first hand when a guy I know tried to explain alternative facts to me. So I googled the definition of 'fact' and showed him... That was not good enough.

How did we get like this?
 
I came across a similarly themed article a week or so ago, except it connects the "back fire" effect of rejection of experts or science and more ready acceptance of "fake" news with religious fundamentalism.

The Religious Origins of Fake News and

...susceptibility to fake news has its particular historical origin in Christian fundamentalism’s rejection of expert elites.

To see this connection, it bears recalling what it meant to be a Christian “fundamentalist” in the early 20th century. Christian fundamentalism was characterized in particular by its rejection of two theologically disturbing bodies of knowledge that emerged from the 19th century: the theory of evolution, and the historical-critical method of Bible scholarship. While mainstream Protestant and Catholic churches have had considerable success in coming to terms with these expert knowledge consensuses, Christian fundamentalism is defined primarily by its rejection of them.

Fundamentalist Christians rejected these accounts. But more importantly, fundamentalists critiqued the methods, assumptions, and institutions of the expert elites. Fundamentalists questioned the biologists’ and Bible scholars’ suspension of the question of God’s supernatural intervention. They rejected the secular university as a site of neutral science and objective scholarship. And they didn’t just question the ideas and conclusions of the secular world and its institutions of knowledge. In a form of resistance, they adapted modern institutions and technologies to create bodies of counter-expertise.
 
This is why I've started to respond to facebook friends when they post obvious lies. I don't ever get anywhere with them, but other people who are to busy or lazy to look up information for themselves need to know that the crap they're posting is BS. It's my very small and insignificant contribution to truth. Lol.

Some of my friends have started to say things like, "Oh. Thanks for pointing that out. You never know what's true and what's false nowadays." And then they post something else the very next day that obviously a bunch of bull.:jpshakehead:
 
I have witnessed this first hand when a guy I know tried to explain alternative facts to me. So I googled the definition of 'fact' and showed him... That was not good enough.

How did we get like this?

jumping on Booker's post, I would say the Moral Majority of the 80s (having started as a reaction to roe v wade) and Gingrich's "contract with America"
conservatives saw the upcoming demographic shift and smartly decided to play small ball and went after school boards, municipalities and state houses
- they've controlled re-redistricting the last 2 cycles
it's what let's something like 26% of voters to have a VERY outsized voice
 
The sociological reason so many Americans are ignoring facts.

An intriguing sociological reason so many Americans ignore facts - Business Insider




Don't be a grease fire.

Confirmation bias or the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories. We believe what we want to believe and anything else, well, if it doesn't fit into our sphere of thinking, it's bad. It's almost like a mob rules. We saw it in pre-WWII Germany. The power of suggestion then moves into this backfiring.

I have witnessed this first hand when a guy I know tried to explain alternative facts to me. So I googled the definition of 'fact' and showed him... That was not good enough.

How did we get like this?

Absolutely not facts to back it up but my belief is the internet. We all now have a "voice" across the globe and we want our opinions heard. While social media has brought us together like never before, it has divided us just as much. There was a post here on how everyone is now an expert and this falls right in line with this unfortunate trend.
 
So, without reading the article, what's the solution? Just walk away?
Well, you put out a grease fire by depriving it of oxygen. I'm assuming that's the implied solution :idunno:

Squirting them with water, though, is clearly not going to work.

Maybe a few hours of Boomhauer on a loop could reset the brain too.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2GGA1a4nyVs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

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