Quote:
Originally Posted by These guys
I know the type, and I can hardly stand not to call bullshit on nearly everything they enlighten me with. My mother would sometimes make a lot of assumptions based on something she read, and I got kind of used to questioning anecdotal evidence and actually doing research. It takes a lot of solid, professional opinions to convince me of anything. I never understood why the word of one conspiracy theorist always seems to trump the opinion of the majority of professionals.
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It's definitely a tendency of people giving sources too much credibility without even doing the minimal amount of research. Me personally, I'm a natural skeptic (and probably almost to the degree of cynicism) so my first instinct any time I get new information is to check up on it. But maybe less skeptical people have more of a tendency to just latch on to whatever fits in their belief system and makes them feel good.
A big example of this, to me, is my own dad. He's one of the most intelligent people I know, but he's the furthest thing from a skeptic. Apart from his religious background, he recently got swept up into that whole Planet X/Nibiru conspiracy thing that should have been discarded the first time it was disproved, but because of "2012", people are taking old conspiracies and fitting them into the whole 2012 thing and reviving it. Well, he saw a video on Youtube, of all places, and it was logical-sounding enough to almost convince him to sell his house and buy an RV to live in, so he could escape 2012 flooding...
Granted, he is aging, at a ripe 64 years old, but he's still got his wit about him, and I can't really flank him logically when he's in his territory. But I think it's a combination of him being naturally accepting of things that make sense to his own mind, and technology he's not really fully aware of the repercussions of... I had to make him understand that absolutely anyone can upload a video to Youtube, and I offered him some simple debunking resources just to get at least 2 sides of the story into his mind.
I think with younger people who are used to the technology and communication abilities we have on the internet, we're a little more wary of hoaxes and fraud. I think with the older generation that doesn't utilize this medium as much, it's a lot harder for them to qualify the legitimacy of a source. I still have to explain to my dad how to google search things without following all kinds of sponsored links and downloading toolbars and random crap...
But, in my cousin's case, she's younger than I am. Her only excuse is being a victim of this health movement that, in itself, is not a bad thing... but she absolutely does not research both sides on purpose. She's too closed-minded. She just accepts whatever sides with the particular mode of thought, without even questioning the validity and agenda behind it.