If you haven't already, make sure to check out my first and second posts on this topic.
I'll pick up where I left off....
Giving Undeserved Credence to Information Sources
The average person doesn't judge, say, a newspaper article or a statement by a politician based on the credibility of the sources cited; they judge it according to their own worldview.
Fits my worldview = firmly grounded in reality.
Conflicts with my worldview = baseless.
It's no wonder that the Republican presidential contenders have made all kinds of factual errors in the latest television debates. They learned in their November 9 debate last year that voters don't care (do they even notice?) when the candidates simply leave facts out of the equation. Does making factual errors demonstrate greater disregard for truth than not citing any facts at all? Who cares. People don't mind either as long as you don't challenge their beliefs.
Obsessive Mistrust of Authority
Mistrust of authority has a long tradition in the US, and properly incorporated, it's an important part of critical thinking. The problem is that Americans give too much immediate credibility to anyone who claims to stand in opposition to the establishment, and then they accept their claims uncritically. We see this in all the populist ranting against "Washington elites" leading up to each election, and it's not hard to recognize it in the misleadingly named "9/11 Truth Movement" and all of the other garbage peddled by conspiracy theorists.
The Obliteration of Meaning in the Use of Language
We live in a world where there are no longer any problems, only "challenges." Ordnance is delivered to targets in preemptive actions against enemy combatants in response to a clear and present danger. Industry offers us game-changing value-added services in their innovative customer relationship management regimes, leading to a paradigm shift which causes me to shit my pants.
I expect to return to this topic repeatedly throughout the life of this blog. It makes for good laughs, but it's a serious and insidious problem.
The Marketing of Everything
I don't have a good statistic on hand right now, but I'm sure that most of the words the average person is exposed to during a normal day - printed, broadcast, perhaps even spoken - are aimed not at conveying information and letting the individual make their own judgments, but rather at influencing the individual's thoughts and behavior towards specific outcomes. This has poisoned our society on many levels, not least our ability - maybe even inclination - to obtain and judge factual information.
Triumphalism and False Attributions to the "Natural Order of Things"
Attributing one's advantaged position, and the disadvantaged position of someone else, to the "natural order of things" is a great way to turn off one's brain and avoid grappling with difficult questions about how fucked up and unpredictable the world is. We can tell ourselves that we've found "the answer," or at least a part of it, and delude ourselves that we can settle into a static worldview and never have our beliefs challenged again. And then, when our position changes, we have the choice - barring an immediate mental collapse - of either remolding our beliefs to reflect the new reality we encounter, or insulating ourselves in a world of delusions which blames outside forces and allows us to maintain our false beliefs. The former involves a lot more up-front pain, but it can also improve our situation. The latter, which I believe is more common, allows us to breathe some new life into our illusions until reality inevitably crashes down on us in a far more destructive way.
In closing, I'd ask that you take a moment to skim through the topic headings in this three part post. Consider some of the ways these different phenomena can interact to amplify and exacerbate each other, resulting in a cataclysmic deluge of bullshit which sometimes reaches proportions that can overwhelm even the sharpest of minds.
I'll pick up where I left off....
Giving Undeserved Credence to Information Sources
The average person doesn't judge, say, a newspaper article or a statement by a politician based on the credibility of the sources cited; they judge it according to their own worldview.
Fits my worldview = firmly grounded in reality.
Conflicts with my worldview = baseless.
It's no wonder that the Republican presidential contenders have made all kinds of factual errors in the latest television debates. They learned in their November 9 debate last year that voters don't care (do they even notice?) when the candidates simply leave facts out of the equation. Does making factual errors demonstrate greater disregard for truth than not citing any facts at all? Who cares. People don't mind either as long as you don't challenge their beliefs.
Obsessive Mistrust of Authority
Mistrust of authority has a long tradition in the US, and properly incorporated, it's an important part of critical thinking. The problem is that Americans give too much immediate credibility to anyone who claims to stand in opposition to the establishment, and then they accept their claims uncritically. We see this in all the populist ranting against "Washington elites" leading up to each election, and it's not hard to recognize it in the misleadingly named "9/11 Truth Movement" and all of the other garbage peddled by conspiracy theorists.
The Obliteration of Meaning in the Use of Language
We live in a world where there are no longer any problems, only "challenges." Ordnance is delivered to targets in preemptive actions against enemy combatants in response to a clear and present danger. Industry offers us game-changing value-added services in their innovative customer relationship management regimes, leading to a paradigm shift which causes me to shit my pants.
I expect to return to this topic repeatedly throughout the life of this blog. It makes for good laughs, but it's a serious and insidious problem.
The Marketing of Everything
I don't have a good statistic on hand right now, but I'm sure that most of the words the average person is exposed to during a normal day - printed, broadcast, perhaps even spoken - are aimed not at conveying information and letting the individual make their own judgments, but rather at influencing the individual's thoughts and behavior towards specific outcomes. This has poisoned our society on many levels, not least our ability - maybe even inclination - to obtain and judge factual information.
Triumphalism and False Attributions to the "Natural Order of Things"
Attributing one's advantaged position, and the disadvantaged position of someone else, to the "natural order of things" is a great way to turn off one's brain and avoid grappling with difficult questions about how fucked up and unpredictable the world is. We can tell ourselves that we've found "the answer," or at least a part of it, and delude ourselves that we can settle into a static worldview and never have our beliefs challenged again. And then, when our position changes, we have the choice - barring an immediate mental collapse - of either remolding our beliefs to reflect the new reality we encounter, or insulating ourselves in a world of delusions which blames outside forces and allows us to maintain our false beliefs. The former involves a lot more up-front pain, but it can also improve our situation. The latter, which I believe is more common, allows us to breathe some new life into our illusions until reality inevitably crashes down on us in a far more destructive way.
In closing, I'd ask that you take a moment to skim through the topic headings in this three part post. Consider some of the ways these different phenomena can interact to amplify and exacerbate each other, resulting in a cataclysmic deluge of bullshit which sometimes reaches proportions that can overwhelm even the sharpest of minds.
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