{"id":47427,"date":"2019-07-26T10:05:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T15:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=47427"},"modified":"2019-07-26T10:05:54","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T15:05:54","slug":"the-just-world-fallacy-why-people-bash-assange-and-defend-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=47427","title":{"rendered":"The Just World Fallacy: Why People Bash Assange And Defend Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Just World Fallacy: Why People Bash Assange And Defend\u00a0Power<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I write a lot<\/a> about how important it is for political dissidents to research and understand cognitive biases, the large number of well-documented logical glitches<\/a> in the way human brains process information. I do this because the science of modern propaganda has been in research and development for more than a century<\/a>, so if public domain psychology is aware of these glitches we can be absolutely certain that the propagandists are as well, and that they are exploiting those glitches currently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t cultivate a healthy respect for just how advanced modern propaganda has become, you won\u2019t be able to understand what the propagandists are doing when observing the behaviors of the political\/media class, and you\u2019ll almost certainly wind up being fooled by the propaganda machine in various ways yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that people think of themselves as rational creatures, but in reality have many large cognitive vulnerabilities which can and will be exploited to cause them to interpret data in an irrational way, is not some amusing-yet-inconsequential bit of trivia. It\u2019s an absolutely crucial piece of the puzzle in understanding why the world is as messed up as it is, and in figuring out how to fix it. The immense political consequences of this reality extend into every facet of civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, have you ever wondered why ordinary people you know in real life often harbor highly negative opinions about Julian Assange, seemingly to no benefit for themselves, even while he\u2019s being viciously persecuted<\/a> for his truthful publications by some of the most corrupt political forces on the planet? You\u2019ve probably correctly concluded that it\u2019s because they\u2019re propagandized, but have you ever wondered why that propaganda works? Even on some of the more intelligent people you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n