re: #73 Renaissance_Man

The short answer is that a person’s opinions are far, far more important than facts or any hard evidence. Opinions are everything. If a person already has a preconceived opinion that something is the case, they can become unable to do something as simple as compare two numbers and see which one is larger. I’ve seen this with my own eyes - people of average intelligence who have an opinion that tells them one thing, who are then shown two sets of numbers that clearly prove the opposite, and who are then incapable of comparing these numbers and seeing which one is larger or smaller. Instead they will become angry and leave the conversation.

You cannot prove opinions wrong. You may as well be trying to prove to these people that they don’t exist. They have been given the opinion that they are heavily taxed, oppressed, and ruled over by a tyrannical Muslim foreigner. Like all opinions, it is now part of their self-image and worldview, given enough reinforcement. And there is no amount of evidence that will convince them otherwise. The only solution is deprogramming.

OK, so let’s say I get that.

Anyone who has tried to teach science to the masses, gets that. I have seen the closed minded foolishness and inability to process abstractions or new evidence many times. We all have. There is something of an uphill battle with things like Evolution and AGW.

Processing science requires looking into things and processing detailed arguments. The same forces come into play when dealing with historical revisionists.

However, knowing that if you are out of work, unemployment benefits would help you, or that if you have work, you paid less taxes, is a no brainier.

What you are saying then is that the power of Fox news and the right wing punditry is so profound that even those facts don’t penetrate.

Curiously enough… Combining an understanding of Darwin with AGW, one sees very quickly that this is not a survival advantage. If those things together somehow didn’t wipe out the sane and intelligent along with the deluded sheep, I would be all for letting nature take its course.

Do we really need more generations of those who are that delusional, easily manipulatable, prone to outburst and generally destructive? I would be all for letting them wipe themselves out.

But since their actions effect us, how does one deprogram if not by pointing out basic facts? Where exactly does the truth come into plans to restore accurate perceptions of reality?