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LINK It's Easier To Call A Fact A Fact When It's One You Like, Study Finds : NPR

"The results suggest that confirmation bias is not just a question of people rejecting facts as false — it can involve people rejecting facts as something that could be proven or disproven at all."

While this result focused on rep vs. dem, I daresay it may also be relevant to our site and apply to religious vs. non-religious appreciation of facts vs. opinions.

TheMiddleWay 8 June 20
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The information age has created a mindset where people have several problems processing information correctly.

  1. First off most people cannot identify accurate material and dishonest propaganda.
  2. They believe that reading material on a topic (regardless of verified source material) can put you on par with people who are formally educated and experienced.
  3. People assume that if a statement agrees with their already existing bias then what they believed is confirmed as fact
  4. While if the statement is disagreed with, the opposing party is engaging in a conspiracy and therefore unworthy of their trust. So instead, they reaffirm their own bias once more.

This isn't a problem with politics or theism or any other specific opposing viewpoints. The abundance of information and social communication channels is coalescing in propaganda spreading like wildfire and a highly polarized populace.

People vote against their personal interests because they are buying into dishonest commentary not only by their leaders but by their friends and that tribal mentality has a huge impact. Imagine a view point with your friends where all of them are pro-life and you're pro-choice. Do you feel comfortable having that discussion with them or do you feel separated from them due to it?

In my opinion the ability for adults to process information and weed out what is true and what is not is the largest hurdle that humanity has ever faced. I hope I'm blowing it out of proportion but I don't think I am.

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That is why it would be nice to have a place to go that we could trust to verify these statements. Wouldn't that be great?

Marine Level 8 June 20, 2018

@TheMiddleWay Thanks

@TheMiddleWay Problem that I have been running into more often lately are the fools that tell me something to the effect that Snopes is a leftist propaganda site and can't be trusted. Beligerence is far too easy of a position to take for too many people.

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A fact that conflicts with ones ideals causes cognitive dissonance that lead us to hypocracy and other coping methods.

EdEarl Level 8 June 20, 2018
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Confirmation bias affects and controls all of us to a lesser or greater degree.

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