A glitch in the human psyche that equates repetition with truth

Post by kough » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 9:31 PM UTC

dwaltrip wrote: post #73

WhitneyLand wrote: post #58

What makes some people more vulnerable to accepting things uncritically? Why is it so hard to admit when they or someone they support makes a mistake? I have an ego, I don't like being wrong, and I think I'm right a lot. Ok, so far I get it. But to constantly ignore or avoid objective evidence? How do people not become ill at the thought? 1) Clinical narcissism or sociopathy? It's all an intentional means to an end.…

It's not some people. It's most people. Investigating claims rigorously is very difficult, even for highly skilled individuals. And it usually has very minimal direct impact on the mundane aspects of day-to-day to life. For many, there isn't an easy answer to the question: "Why should I bother, given everything else going on in my life?" Honestly, it's pretty great how many people are willing to spend time and effort…

Post by pimeys » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 9:38 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #82

pimeys wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask you a question? Are you trolling or what are your aiming here? Now it's of course downvoted to oblivion, but I'd like to know why even here, amongst smart people, we go down into so cheap comments and even try to defend changes that will eventually make lifes of people like me a living hell.

> we go down into so cheap comments Plenty of people are making the exact same "cheap" comparison to Trump, except to you that's likely ok. You're witnessing a difference of opinion.

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 10:06 PM UTC

smallnamespace wrote: post #81

gizmo wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess we look at the world very differently, because: > They are unlikely to ever agree with/be persuaded by complete inconsistent nonsense, however often it is repeated. Like, I mean nonsense that doesn't even have linguistic structure or maybe any meaning. If the US election hasn't persuaded you that complete gibberish can be persuasive when repeated endlessly, there's nothing I can say that will.

It might be gibberish at a factual or logical level, but at least for a certain portion of the populace, it hits all the right emotional notes and checks all the right boxes in their value and belief systems. Of course, you won't see it yourself if you don't share their worldview and are unable to empathize and put yourself in their shoes.

Post by astrange » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 10:16 PM UTC

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #104

astrange wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're closer to having one, since the smart people like to convince themselves not to support the second one through sophistry.

If with the second one you mean the non-ruling party, it actually got more votes in the presidential election than the ruling party.

Post by dilemma » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 10:22 PM UTC

lacampbell wrote: post #8

dilemma wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you applied it to your own beliefs? Which ones? Do you no longer believe in them?

I have. I'm not going to mention which ones as that would cheapen the general message, which is bigger than politics. And yes, I no longer believe them.