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QUESTION Why do so many fall victim to irrational thinking?

This is an area I see over and over even on this site. This link actually examines this type of insanity. I have experienced the frustration of trying use reason with some only to fail miserably. Even Mark Twain realized emotion beats reason every time.

Because of this I have decided to not even discuss issues (like their supporting tRump) on this site. It is a complete waste of time and a distraction to more tangible and reasoned dialogue. Maybe if more of us did the same these people would eventually go away.

A recent issue of 'the Atlantic Monthly' has an article "the Making of an American Nazi". On page 57 of the article one clearly sees the reasons for this guys transformation from an Atheist, vegan, anti-racist to an hyped neo-Nazi. #hashtag
@VictoriaNotes

JackPedigo 9 Dec 19
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6 comments

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Well, yes emotions tend to cloud the issues increasing the chance of making wrong decisions. But wrong decisions are better than no decisions because wrong decisions can be corrected while no decision may ever take place.

I'd like to read the link you provided but I'm not willing to subscribe nor give them my email. Oh well.

SamL Level 7 Dec 21, 2017

Sorry, Somehow I was able to connect with that link without subscribing.

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I believe this might help you. It's a natural part of some humans to block that ability to redevelop their opinion out of the fear of being wrong.

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You are partly right: Loud-mouthed irrational people enjoy irritating others and trying to bully them. And, they reinforce each other.

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A couple of points: It's not rational to expect consistent rational thought from people. We are capable at our best of applying logic intelligently, but it is by no stretch of the imagination our standard operating mode. We have to work at that, and many are just never going to have much reasoning capability. I hate to break it to you, but even you are irrational sometimes. I know nothing much about you but can say that confidently, because none of us is a paragon of logic. Second point: Logic is only going to be effective if the factual knowledge the person has at their disposal is sound. Especially with complex issues, we all look selectively at various facts of a situation, and often the "stupidity" of another person in our view is actually just them coming from differing priorities and having different information at their disposal than we do. They may look at us and shake their heads at our hopeless "idiocy" or "blindness." And since none of us has all the information, the information we do choose to pay most attention to is going to tend to be that which is consistent with, and supports, our personal value system.

Having said all that, I agree, we're surrounded by idiots and it's highly frustrating. I, of course, am brilliant. 😉

First off I thought I had put something in my piece which included myself. I see I did not but have done so and have admitted, on this site, when I made a mistake. It is usually, as you said, wrong or lack of or misinterpreted information. The thing is we are and should be open to making and admitting our mistakes. Many are not and will not, ever. My main point was that after a lot of trying and failing to use reason with these people (and expecting some sort of reasoned based counterargument in return) all I got back was emotional nonsense. It is a waste of everyone's time and energy.

Too many feel loyalty, my tribe, right or wrong, is the ultimate virtue. They feel this absolves them of responsibility when the "S%#* hits the fan".

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People try to shift ideas by using radical examples. The media reports a shooting making it seem over dramatic, there should be a regulation that makes them have to report the counterintuitive as well. Example Reports say agun man robbed the mini mart killed 5 people. The versa should be Because 100 shopkeepers had guns with permits there shops were not robbed.My point is if people won`t conform to the ideologue standards they tend to show extreme examples to make a point to grab the common person's attention.

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No link there.

I have a link, it's the title of the post. But then you need to subscribe., and I didn't.

I do not subscribe but was able to access the link. There was a not of subscription but the link I sent got around that.

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