The Damage is Done

 

Even if Trump loses, as it seems he likely will, the candidate for presidency has normalized Sexual Predatory behavior for a lot of people in a manner that this country has never before seen, essentially nearly reversing the past century of progress we have made on the matter. I am thinking about my daughter and rape culture and envision an uptick in this behavior. I mean, children, teenagers, see a guy who talks like this and acts like this, and it is all validated already. He was, after all, someone who became the nominee for president for one of our 2 major political parties. The only thing worse of course for this validation of his behavior if he were to actually lead the nation as president. Expect four more years of validating his behavior and demeaning women who accuse him…

He has normalized conspiracy theories. Believing what you want to make yourself feel better has been normalized, to suit your confirmation bias. Confirmation bias has been on the uptick, exponentially increasing since the advent of the internet and this so called “information age”. Yes, information is out there, but so is nearly an equal amount of disinformation. The internet has created a virtual safety bubble where you can go into your echo chamber and affirm your preconceived notions, beliefs, and assumptions that suit your bias. Not only that you can communicate with people just like you, who don’t look at what they are reading with a critical eye, questioning everything even if it is something you prefer to be true.

This is the difference between the scientific knowledge based mind and the belief based mind. We, as humanity, are still attempting to come out of the age of ignorance. Where beliefs reigned prevalent over knowledge for the masses. Because knowledge is just too hard to get to. Truth is difficult, no matter what era. It is difficult to actually know things, other than the obvious, such as “we exist” or the things we directly experience and affirm through empirical testing of our own. Believing something to be true, is much easier. You can believe anything you want! Belief often takes the place of knowledge in someone’s mind. They believe they actually know. This makes you think they are smarter and knowledgeable on matters. Being that most people are like this, they can affirm their beliefs as knowledge through their friends, family, every day people.

The real hard work, the knowledge and advances we as a civilization have gained and experienced, have been built on the backs of the minds of a small few. Does anyone understand how radio waves work? Nope, not really. But we have them. How does video and all the information of the internet travel through the air to be seen on your monitor? Not much know. Not many really figured it out. But the masses reap its benefits. What do the masses really know?

So how do all these people back claims that people couldn’t possibly know? When Trump says “global warming is a Chinese Hoax” they might believe him, then they might consider it knowledge. Or if he said he didn’t say that, and they didn’t know better, they’d believe that too and consider it knowledge. The problem is, it takes research, critical thinking. Something that a conspiracy theorist ultimately fails on, but something that is becoming rampant in this information, or rather misinformation age.

The problem is, the conspiracy theorist doesn’t know they are a conspiracy theorist, they think they have the truth. They believe they have knowledge. They inherently think because other people say it, who seem credible to them, that it must be right. This is not the way to think to get progress, to gain knowledge. Believing other people, other journalists, what your biased news source wants to convey, is what the masses typically do. Its too hard to know. Its easier to believe. I call it being lazy. Some might call it being stupid. But there is a problem in the United States and it begins with not admitting your own ignorance.