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Our Curious Propensity to Ignore New Evidence
Our Curious Propensity to Ignore New Evidence What is a “belief” anyway, and how does it get “there”? The word belief comes from the old Germanic root that also gives us love and it originally meant something (impersonal) we care about and trust strongly. I would argue that beliefs are unique to the human brain, and that they are the […]
Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CIII–We All Believe What We Believe…Evidence Be Damned.
Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CIII Teotihuacan, Mexico. (1988) Photo by author. We All Believe What We Believe…Evidence Be Damned. The following contemplation is my comment on the latest Honest Sorcerer post that explores personality ‘types’ and how these contribute to why we tend to hold such different views of our world. Very interesting discussion and does help […]
“Baseless Conspiracy Theories” and our Knowledge Crisis.
“Baseless Conspiracy Theories” and our Knowledge Crisis. Evidence, proof, and the will to deceive. The news that the FBI is investigating Hunter Biden on suspicion of money laundering and foreign influence peddling should come as no surprise, given that the New York Post broke the story over two months ago. Of course, when that publication released the incriminating […]
They Only Serve Themselves
They Only Serve Themselves Caspar David Friedrich The Monk by the Sea c1809“The Kremlin” poisoned their “fierce rival” Navalny with the infamous deadly agent novichok. That is the headline. Only, the German accusation in that direction doesn’t say novichok, its says a “cholinesterase inhibitor”, of which novichok is just one example, was used. The news outlets must […]
They Were All Lying
They Were All Lying A dear friend the other day accused me of defending Trump. I don’t, and never have, but it made me think that if she says it, probably others say and think the same; I’ve written a lot about him. So let me explain once again. Though I think perhaps this has […]
WE Will Free The Press
WE Will Free The Press While we’re republishing articles about the newly arrested Julian Assange, in his honor, here’s one on the role the press has played in his ordeal. And will undoubtedly continue to play. What does it say about a society that you have to hold not only the government, but also the […]
MSM Is Getting Weirder, More Frantic, And More Desperate By The Day
MSM Is Getting Weirder, More Frantic, And More Desperate By The Day When even the Washington Post is saying your Russiagate article is bad journalism, your Russiagate article is really, really bad journalism. In an article titled “The Guardian offered a bombshell story about Paul Manafort. It still hasn’t detonated.”, WaPo writer Pul Farhi draws attention […]
Smear Slander Rinse and Repeat
Smear Slander Rinse and Repeat Frans Masereel Montmartre 1925 The way ‘news’ is reported through known outlets changes so fast hardly a soul notices that news as we once knew it no longer exists. This is due to a large extent to the advent of the internet in general, and social media in particular. On […]
The Psychology of Systemic Consensus
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SYSTEMIC CONSENSUS We are all too familiar with established views rejecting change. It has nothing to do with the facts. Officialdom’s mind is often firmly closed to all reason on the big issues. To appreciate why we must understand the crowd psychology behind the systemic consensus. It is the distant engine that […]
The News Just Ain’t The News No More
The News Just Ain’t The News No More M. C. Escher The Tower of Babel 1928 Two thirds of Americans get at least some of their news on social media. Google and Facebook receive well over 70% of US digital advertising revenues. The average daily time spent on social media is 2 hours. Just a […]
Free The Press
Free The Press William Hogarth Humours of an Election, Plate 2 1754 Two thirds of Americans want the Mueller investigation (inquisition, someone called it) over by the midterm elections. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said that if Mueller wants to interview Trump, he’ll have to do so before September 1, because the Trump camp doesn’t […]
Assange and Truth: the Deeper (Harder) Issue
Assange and Truth: the Deeper (Harder) Issue Photo by thierry ehrmann | CC BY 2.0 When Harold Pinter got the Nobel Prize (2005), he described “a vast tapestry of lies upon which we feed”. He asked why “systematic brutality, widespread atrocities, ruthless suppression of independent thought” were well-known when they occurred in the Soviet Union. […]
To Believe in Science, You Have to Know How It’s Done
To Believe in Science, You Have to Know How It’s Done I met a climate crisis denier today. It came out of nowhere. I was getting my camera repaired, and I was chatting with the repairman afterward. Just before I left, he dropped into our conversation that he didn’t believe in manmade climate change. After […]
The Problem with Conspiracy Theories
The Problem with Conspiracy Theories People today spend a lot of time talking about conspiracy theories. These theories often do harm because they divert attention away from the facts and thereby allow real crimes and other harmful effects to continue. Such conspiracy theories can be spotted based on three basic characteristics. They lack […]
