"Fuck The Facts"
Joe Keohane wrote an amazing article detailing how when presented with provable facts that contradict people's beliefs, Americans tend to reject the facts and deepen their support of the disproved belief.
It is a defense mechanism to avoid cognitive dissonance. People tend to seek consistency. The manner in which the contradiction is presented can have some effect.
"The more threatened people feel, the less likely they are to listen to dissenting opinions, and the more easily controlled they are."
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Right in line with that, over at Why Evolution Is True, they continue to debunk attempts at suggesting science and religion are compatible.
It is a defense mechanism to avoid cognitive dissonance. People tend to seek consistency. The manner in which the contradiction is presented can have some effect.
"The more threatened people feel, the less likely they are to listen to dissenting opinions, and the more easily controlled they are."
_____
Right in line with that, over at Why Evolution Is True, they continue to debunk attempts at suggesting science and religion are compatible.
posted by shane at 7:07 PM
2 Comments:
Some of it is consistency-seeking, but some of it is tribal. Certain positions on certain issues will either alienate one from opinion factions we've associated with, or identify us with factions we'd prefer to distance ourselves from. I'm in the midst of such an existential crisis as we speak.
I'm sorry- I either don't follow you or you are making no sense.
Sure, when involved in politics or struggle or community building one might choose to identify with a 'side' who they don't agree with 100%. However, that has nothing to do with the inability to make decisions based on material fact instead of beliefs that can be disproved.
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