Misinformation

Disinformation

Misinformation,

Disinformation,

Manipulated to mislead,

Disdainful distortions believed,

Facts awaiting to be freed,

Be suspicious of the mistruths we read,

Call out correspondences that deceive,

There must be a benefit perceived,

To change core beliefs believed.

Wikipedia defines core beliefs as “statements used to identify our different experiences and thoughts, feelings, or senses about how we feel about ourselves.” Changing core beliefs requires a person to think things through differently. For example if a person has a core belief that our government is dishonest, and his vote will not matter, he will not vote until that belief is changed. No amount of persuasion will change the core belief. Often trying to persuade this person only antagonizes him, and makes him hold on to it more strongly. He gets the “who are you to tell me what to do” attitude.

Another example is the core belief that the Democrats promote a “woke” agenda that discriminates against working class white Americans. This idea has been carefully propagated through misinformation by Republican politicians. No amount of fact checking, or referencing studies, will change the believers mind, as the facts that challenge this core belief are believed by them to be fake news. What is said on Fox News is the real news because they believe it to be true. To try to convince this segment of the public otherwise is futile unless they can see the error in their way of thinking.

The following podcast explains the concepts behind fake news. “How Humans Use 'Strategic Ignorance' When Facts Get In The Way” from 2017. I like PBS Host David Greene’s comment: “There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see.” I also see great relevance to 2022 from this quote from the podcast. “But in a series of experiments, Woolley and her co-author, Jane Risen, find that people demonstrate something that they call strategic ignorance. In other words, you want to vote for a candidate. You know there's information out there that is damaging to the candidate. You know that listening to the information might cause you to change your mind. So you just push the information away.”

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/22/572791780/how-humans-use-strategic-ignorance-when-facts-get-in-the-way

I was excited to learn of a new movement called “prebunking” that addresses this issue by trying to teach better thinking skills. The recent study outlines a way to educate people to analyse their critical thinking skills. It tries to teach how to evaluate core beliefs, and expose all or nothing thinking. As usual education is the key but the reality is that most apathetic people don't realize the need to be educated unless they are taught why they succumb to misinformation.

Read the article @ upworthy.com, they explain it much better than I can.

https://www.upworthy.com/researchers-found-the-most-effective-way-to-stop-misinformation-online-and-it-s-pretty-simple?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

And if you want to read the research paper @ science.org:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abo6254

Lastly, if I can continue my education as I retire and become old,

I'll find poems that inspire like this beauty to behold.