10-9-21
What happened to people’s ability to think for themselves clearly, fairly, rationally, and accurately?
I’d really like to know.
The thing that makes it so ironic is that we live in an age where people have more access to incredible amounts of information than ever before in human history. Think about it. With just our smartphones, devices which literally fit in our pockets, we can access vast amounts of information. News sites, online encyclopedias, a vast array of other websites, and multiple television news channels are all literally at our fingertips. Never in human history has so much information been so readily available to an everyday individual. It’s quite amazing when you think about it.
As a result, it’s easier than ever to obtain information from a variety of different sources and get different points of view in order to be as accurate as possible. The problem is that millions and millions of people don’t do this. Instead, they focus on sites and people that only tell them what they want to hear. They connect with others online who agree with them and shun those who don’t. Many only get their news from extremely biased, one sided sources that frequently twist information around, exaggerate, and sometimes flat out lie. And when reputable news sites tell them accurate information that they don’t want to hear, they often call it “fake.” They seem to prefer deluding themselves over facing the truth.
There are plenty of examples of this these days. With all due respect, Donald Trump lost the 2020 election fair and square. There is overwhelming evidence proving this. Every single state certified the election. There were Republican, Democrat, and Independent officials in all the ballot counting rooms in all the states overseeing the vote tallying process. There were even international observers from multiple countries monitoring the election. When the Trump campaign tried to spread their false claims of fraud in the courts, they lost over 60 times. And many of the judges who ruled against them were conservatives themselves. Yet tens of millions of Americans continue to believe the false claims of fraud as they only listen to Trump, other select Republican figures, and conservative websites about the election. They’re ignoring the vast amount of evidence showing that there was no widespread fraud and that Trump legitimately lost.
Another example is how millions of people are ignoring the scientific evidence regarding the COVID pandemic in terms of the need for getting vaccinated, mask wearing inside public places, and social distancing. Instead of listening to the scientists on reputable sites, they ignore them and follow misinformation which is resulting in too many people not getting vaccinated and refusing to wear masks/social distance in situations where they should. This in turn is making the pandemic much worse and is undoubtedly costing lives to be lost tragically and unnecessarily.
People need to open their minds and get information from varied, independent, reputable sources. They should strive to learn different points of view, try to verify information, be as objective as possible, and avoid only listening to those that tell them just what they want to hear. Doing these things would help more people get closer to understanding the real truth than has been happening thus far, and this in turn would help make the world a better place in the long run.
Views and Observations 