The Flat Earth Society
Other Discussion Boards => Philosophy, Religion & Society => Topic started by: jimster on January 22, 2021, 10:16:02 PM
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There are groups of people (you need a group, one alone would just look crazy) who believe in large, powerful, and yet perfectly secret (in the sense that no one can find evidence sufficient to convince the general public). Sometimes, these groups are confronted with news that makes their beliefs clearly wrong.
Examples:
Jehovah's Witness founder predicted the end of the world, several times. Spoiler alert, it didn't end. Yet there are millions of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The guy on "Behind the Curve" who got a ring laser gyroscope and watched it precess by 15 degrees per hour, even after he put it in a Faraday cage. Yet there remain FEs.
Q predicted that Trump was working with Mueller to bring down the democrat/hollywood pedophile/cannibal ring, and that a storm would happen, democrats arrested and Trump remaining president. To my knowledge, Q never made a successful prediction, nor was there any evidence that any prediction was ever true nor that Q was actually who he said he was.
What is this system of thinking where you become convinced of something, see real world evidence that it is not true, and yet insist ever more emphatically that it is still true?
Given this testament to faith, and the explanatory powers of changing the laws of physics and giant, multi-generational, yet perfectly secret conspiracies, is there any idea that can be disproven?
I have been warned about off topic posting. I will be watching for that on this thread, as my only question, the OP topic, is: "How can groups of people maintain faith with valid evidence against and none for?"
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The answer is simple: Ignore it.
People can very easily create patterns that don't exist. They can also ignore information they get. Add in a "Central Fact" that can't be altered (Like Trump is good or Aliens probe me) and you get what you need.
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There are a couple of well understood psychological effects going on.
One is Cognitive Dissonance which is the explanation for a lot of the above. Basically it's where people are quite invested in a certain belief. When presented with evidence which shows that belief is not correct it's quite uncomfortable and that has to be resolved. The rational thing to do is to change your belief but many people simply become even more entrenched in their position and dismiss the evidence. People are more likely to do that if they have heavily invested in the belief.
Related to this is Confirmation Bias where people tend to find credible things which reinforce their beliefs and dismiss things which do not.
This is exacerbated by internet algorithms which can lead you down rabbit holes - I don't think it's malicious but people like Google and YouTube will show you things they think you're interested in based on things you've looked at previously. That can lead you to become more entrenched because you don't even see the other side of things.
The only thing you can do about all this is be aware of it and try to be introspective and check that you're not falling into these traps.
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There are groups of people (you need a group, one alone would just look crazy) who believe in large, powerful, and yet perfectly secret (in the sense that no one can find evidence sufficient to convince the general public). Sometimes, these groups are confronted with news that makes their beliefs clearly wrong.
Examples:
Jehovah's Witness founder predicted the end of the world, several times. Spoiler alert, it didn't end. Yet there are millions of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The guy on "Behind the Curve" who got a ring laser gyroscope and watched it precess by 15 degrees per hour, even after he put it in a Faraday cage. Yet there remain FEs.
Q predicted that Trump was working with Mueller to bring down the democrat/hollywood pedophile/cannibal ring, and that a storm would happen, democrats arrested and Trump remaining president. To my knowledge, Q never made a successful prediction, nor was there any evidence that any prediction was ever true nor that Q was actually who he said he was.
What is this system of thinking where you become convinced of something, see real world evidence that it is not true, and yet insist ever more emphatically that it is still true?
Given this testament to faith, and the explanatory powers of changing the laws of physics and giant, multi-generational, yet perfectly secret conspiracies, is there any idea that can be disproven?
I have been warned about off topic posting. I will be watching for that on this thread, as my only question, the OP topic, is: "How can groups of people maintain faith with valid evidence against and none for?"
I am just a poor boy
Though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still, a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest