Stupid Reasons For Believing Information

Things To Consider If You Say Any Of These:

1 “It’s what everybody believes”

It probably isn’t. Even if it is, people don’t always have the time or interest to check information. Her’s a perfect example: https://readmedium.com/lindy-chamberlain-baby-azaria-and-a-dingo-australia-1980-4d7eabe5c630

Our opinions are our own business, but we can’t alter facts — someone will find out eventually. We can choose how we interpret facts though and, as individuals, our knowledge and experience influences how we see things.

We all have “Confirmation Bias” (yes, you and me too); when we should be looking for counter-arguments, we feel safer confirming our own preconceived ideas. Even when the evidence points to a different conclusion, we try to hang on to the version of the story we want to believe. This internalised resistance to change is called “Cognitive Dissonance.”

The first step to overcoming such biases is to recognise we have them, and remember this with every new story we meet.

We also prefer to stick with the first version of events we heard, so telling a story early gives an advantage. It makes it hard to convince the public of any alternative view, but it can be done. Work like the Innocence Project in the US has reversed numerous wrongful convictions, by judges and juries who firmly believed they were right.

I could give a list of popularly-believed myths from my own historical articles, but you are welcome to explore those. I never forget this: “This is my truth, tell me yours.” Various people said that, including British politician Aneuran Bevan and the Manic Street Preachers. How much you trust any of us, you decide.

2 “I read it somewhere”

Maybe you did. But writing something down doesn’t make it true. I can write an article proving that the moon is made of cheese, or I could until people went there and took samples. Of course, some people believe the moon landing never happened.

I’m not going down the conspiracy-theory rabbit hole, so will simply add that there are hardly any real conspiracies, and even fewer successful ones. There are, however, people with shared goals., who work in the same direction, without necessarily knowing each other. Their aim is usually profit. It’s unlikely they’d waste time and money inventing space adventures.

Whether it’s written in a book, a newspaper, the internet or a toilet wall, if it’s important to you, check it out. All you need is reliable sources, with supporting evidence and different viewpoints. If they agree it supports the case, though some fictions are durable. For example, many believe DNA evidence is never wrong; it can be — samples occasionally become contaminated.

Related to this, but in a class of its own:

3 “I know it’s true. I Googled it.”

Google doesn’t lie to you. But it gives you one- or two-sentence answers to questions it chooses for you, about any topic. This ignores context, and the whole complex nature of truth. It can also fail to give you a satisfactory response to what you really wanted to ask.

It doesn’t pass the Courtroom Test; it is “the truth”, but it’s seldom “the whole truth,” and it’s not always “nothing but the truth” either.

Being operated by computer doesn’t make it perfect. Computers are programmed by people who have as many biases as the rest of us, and sometimes want to get the job done and do something else. That’s why we are paid to work; most of us we wouldn’t go otherwise.

For those who studied Political Science, “truth,” like “freedom,” or “democracy,” is a far more fluid concept than we first assumed. We wrote whole essays trying to define them, and got them back with comments which started: “yes, but…” and examples that contradicted our arguments. I got the idea that our tutors were Scottish, and favoured the “not proven” verdict.

4 “I got the information from someone I trust”

They might have been honest with you. But we all like to think we are experts. Welcome to the world of indirect lies. Repeat them often enough and they feel true. Stories sound more impressive and convincing in the first person, so we move from explaining that they came from our cousin’s wife or a work colleague, to claiming it happened to us, or in our presence. That’s one of the ways urban legends grow.

“Someone I trust” often means “someone whose views agree with mine,” or “someone who convinced me they knew what they were talking about.” It includes official reports.

This is a relatively trivial, but valid, example:

The Canary Islands, like the Hawaiian chain, are volcanic. Each emerged from the sea at different times. A friend argued with me because someone they met on a boat told them that La Gomera was the oldest island. (I’m not sure why they thought being on a boat makes anyone a reliable source; fishermen have quite a reputation for exaggerating.)

I live in these islands, am interested in geology and vulcanology, and take an interest in my surroundings. I know Fuerteventura is the oldest. My friend refused to believe this, until they heard it from other sources. I’m still slightly offended by their lack of confidence in my knowledge, but full marks for being convinced by the accumulated evidence.

And those are just the four main ways people are convinced.

So, is it true?

Marcus Aurelius said: “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” The old Roman’s cynicism is still relevant.

The saddest thing is the way most people don’t care. They read the headlines, or brief summary and believe they understand the story. After thorough investigation, what emerges is always more complicated, and a lot more interesting.

Re-examining history is very satisfying, you can try it too.

You first spot the places to start investigating, like archaeologists using Ground Penetrating Radar to help them decide where to dig. Timelines that don’t fit, assumptions, and statements that don’t make sense are all red flags. “Human error” is another — yes, people make mistakes, but we need to know why, or it will happen again.

I’ve even found articles where the writer invented the “thoughts” of those involved in events. Nobody knows for sure what anyone else is thinking, so this shouldn’t fool anyone.

I love finding a more viable interpretation of events than the one “most people believe.” Of course, I might be wrong too, but that doesn’t make the popular belief right.

There are numerous events and situations where the full story is negotiable; help yourself. You might find something nobody else has thought of, and the best stories can always be told again.