The information age created the ability to find information that agrees with any belief or stance.

Or in other words, alternative facts.

All that aside, this looks interesting, I've bookmarked for later consumption.

. . .made people more susceptible to ignoring objective information?

I agree with everything you said, but it seems like the opportunity to obtain more information and facts has caused a regression in actual knowledge.

deals with how fast information can be disseminated, not validated.

evaluating information and forming their own opinions. It starts very early if you grow up in a church attending family. Schools are mostly the same, at least through 12th grade. Some colleges or coursework will get people on the road to thinking and evaluating, but not very many.

It's not just any college education. Like a degree in math isn't going to do it. It takes humanities studies and coursework that requires analysis of information. Learning to see more than one side of things.

I finished my education as an adult, after my kids were almost grown so I know the difference. Before, it was accepting what "they" said was true. After, it was trusting my own ability to think and judge.

that somewhat. Of course there is an exposure to new ideas and experiences factor. They are liberalizing, but how much and whether it will stick varies tremendously among people.

According to these observations, the biggest factor in the "liberalization" of education turns out to be in the kind of people who seek education compared to those who don't. And of course the kind of people who choose which disciplines.

Going along with your "not just any college education," of course not everyone these days attends college to be educated. W, Romney and Trump are all famous for their lack of intellectual curiosity and surprising degrees of ignorance for people living their big lives, and my guess is that Pence, Sessions and Gorsuch may have been actively hostile to much of the range of ideas they were exposed to. Judging by the complete lack of liberalizing effect.

humanities, as well.

To be successful in math you have to learn how to think logically. It doesn't matter how you feel about derivatives of integrals. You have to take statistics and will develop a healthy respect for how easily they can be bent to prove anything. I have a friend who is a history major and a Trumpster. How is that even possible?

Once your faith, sir, persuades you to believe what your intelligence declares to be absurd, beware lest you likewise sacrifice your reason in the conduct of your life. In days gone by, there were people who said to us: "You believe in incomprehensible, contradictory and impossible things because we have commanded you to; now then, commit unjust acts because we likewise order you to do so." Nothing could be more convincing. Certainly any one who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. If you do not use the intelligence with which God endowed your mind to resist believing impossibilities, you will not be able to use the sense of injustice which God planted in your heart to resist a command to do evil. Once a single faculty of your soul has been tyrannized, all the other faculties will submit to the same fate. This has been the cause of all the religious crimes that have flooded the earth. (Translation from Norman Lewis Torrey: Les Philosophes. The Philosophers of the Enlightenment and Modern Democracy. Capricorn Books, 1961, pp. 277-8)

Replace 'religion' with 'politics' or 'freedom' or any other wholly man-made construct appearing nowhere but our own imaginations, and its validity remains consistent.

The important thing though, is we reduce the complexity to one face, one faith, one race, one gender to more efficiently validate our biases; thus illustrating (if not admitting) our own guilt in that which we indict others for.

It's probably because they were raised not only being told Biblical myths, but being told that those myths are literally and absolutely true. It cripples their ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.

I've had too many discussions where they lay out different scripture/verses in the Bible as proof.

Start with the fact that The Don is a not a good business person. That can lead to him having several bankruptcies. Then we can get into how he is not very intelligent at all....and so on.

But what will happen when one day the tRumpers think their lord and savior will be around till 2024 and the next day he is in prison never to see daylight again? Riots? Mass suicides?

much damage, though his investors lost a lot, they won't need to change their opinion based on his bankruptcies.

People used to ask, why does it matter if someone believes in evolution. That’s why. Once you train someone to ignore facts in favor of a prefered outcome, the rest is easy.

1. They need the lie in order to confirm their point of view, where facts only challenge it. It's easier to live with the lie.

2. Humans are attracted to scandal, and they'd sooner believe a scandalous lie than the "boring" truth.

3. They'd rather not hear the facts because they would disprove personal practices, political or religious beliefs, etc.

Conclusion: A large number of humans are difficult to persuade with facts because, in some self-serving way, lies typically comply better with their assertions or personal beliefs.

Sigh.............. so much for my worldview.............

Last edited Mon Feb 26, 2018, 09:45 AM - Edit history (1)

anytime spent in a health food store would disabuse you of that notion.

Very hard to change people's minds after they have formed an opinion. I've noticed here on local issues you need to get out front of the debate to make sure you have the numbers. Once they join a team, they seldom switch no matter the evidence. I've noticed the problem right here on the DU.

Here's an example:

"How do you fight THIS kind of CRAZY?
A Facebooker on my newsfeed posted his belief that "Clinton's FBI" has been setting up all the mass shootings we've had to: 1- divert attention from her collusion with Russia and various other traitorous deeds, and, 2- to push her anti-gun agenda. On top of that, he got 57 "likes" and more than a dozen replying they agreed with him! "

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210291961

Humans systematically make choices that defy clear logic but this also allows us to think outside the box. A double edged sword as sometimes our decisions create havoc and even jeopardize the human race but also allows us to create magnificent things and produce ground breaking ideas.

They will eat anything that Trump gives them.

They can spin the truth of a story like no other media outlet! I know that the media spins the story, but Fox News uses lies and false narratives to sway people to their side!

per my shrink.

We're humans, we dislike our biases getting poked.

You see it in religion, I saw it here during the primaries.

Propaganda works.

You learned how to hunt, gather berries, participate in the community and the rules of society when you were a child. The penalty for getting this information and thinking for yourself is high - you might eat a poisonous berry, walk into a lion's den or get ostracized by your community. On the other hand, there is no great penalty if you are mistakenly told an innocent berry is poisonous or place full of lions has no lions in it. So our minds are built to privilege existing information over new information and trusted sources over untrusted sources. We all do it. How much convincing would you need to change one of your strongly held beliefs? A lot I bet. Even if it's false. In fact you wouldn't even know it is false until you let the new information, which you are not inclined to do.