The Misinformed and The Spread of Misinformation
When an average person is misinformed, there is nothing inherently wrong with that. Not everyone can know everything. That is just impossible. The problem is when the misinformed start to believe that they are actually informed, and their truth is grounded in fact and start to spread that misinformation with full conviction. Then that "truth" gets spread to others and others and before you know it, it becomes a mainstream "truth."
Here are the problems with being misinformed and not actually knowing enough about a subject. There is this concept that the less a person knows about something, the more they think they know and will speak with more validation about the subject. Then the person that has more knowledge on the subject will actually speak with less conviction. Why is this? The person that thinks they know everything, believes they have reached a finite conclusion to the subject and therefore there is nothing else to learn. And if there is nothing else to learn, then they will speak as though the have all the facts because as far as they are concerned, they do. Now take the person with more knowledge. Since they know more, they can actually speak with more authority, but in their quest for knowledge, the also know that there is always more to learn. Knowing this, they can never speak in absolutes, because there may always be more to know.
There also needs to be attention given to the fact that people will tend to get their news source with an outlet that most aligns with their life views. Conservatives go to Fox News, Liberals go to MSNBC, etc. This has become such a divided viewership, that I know of conservatives that do not trust news that does not come from Fox News or another conservative outlet. This becomes a problem when they forget that the owners of the news outlet have their own agenda, and can manipulate the message of their news shows to reflect their personal beliefs. When this happens, the anchors stop being journalists and start becoming tools of a dictatorship.
Now we can have a media outlet essential program the message, and the viewer has the potential of believing everything that is said as fact. This begins the misinformation. Add to that, a political campaign that is trying to get your vote, and they will twist everything to their benefit. So when you have a person who is already an outspoken supporter of candidate X, and their campaign sends out a statement about candidate Y, they will believe no matter how false it is. They have already bought in, and it is easier to continue to believe the lie than it is to stop and rethink everything one believes.
With all of this going on and building over the years, starting with 24 hours news, and then exploding with social media, we now have a population that will believe only certain outlets. What about facts? They don't matter. I used the word "truth" earlier because a truth is something that you believe to be fact. Truth doesn't have to be supported by fact but facts are true. Confused? Just remember that a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square. An environment has been created where those who research facts (real journalists, scientists, scholars, etc) have been ostracized by the opposing side. Their followers now believe that the people with facts are trying to push an agenda, when really what they are trying to do is present facts and evidence.
Remember watching a movie or a TV show where the villain was clearly an evil person but was manipulating their public image to be victorious. Then the heroes of the film kept trying to figure out a way to be able to broadcast the truth to the whole population, then the world would change. Then at the climax of the movie, the video is played on every screen in the world, and the all-powerful villain is now exposed. The people rise up and take back their freedom, and the villain meets their doom. Sadly, I feel that this now more fiction than ever. No matter how real the evidence, the people will always believe what they want, because the message has been manipulating them for too long. And my last sad fact is that people will read this, say you are right and point out examples but fail to see where they have been manipulated and misinformed.
Here are the problems with being misinformed and not actually knowing enough about a subject. There is this concept that the less a person knows about something, the more they think they know and will speak with more validation about the subject. Then the person that has more knowledge on the subject will actually speak with less conviction. Why is this? The person that thinks they know everything, believes they have reached a finite conclusion to the subject and therefore there is nothing else to learn. And if there is nothing else to learn, then they will speak as though the have all the facts because as far as they are concerned, they do. Now take the person with more knowledge. Since they know more, they can actually speak with more authority, but in their quest for knowledge, the also know that there is always more to learn. Knowing this, they can never speak in absolutes, because there may always be more to know.
There also needs to be attention given to the fact that people will tend to get their news source with an outlet that most aligns with their life views. Conservatives go to Fox News, Liberals go to MSNBC, etc. This has become such a divided viewership, that I know of conservatives that do not trust news that does not come from Fox News or another conservative outlet. This becomes a problem when they forget that the owners of the news outlet have their own agenda, and can manipulate the message of their news shows to reflect their personal beliefs. When this happens, the anchors stop being journalists and start becoming tools of a dictatorship.
Now we can have a media outlet essential program the message, and the viewer has the potential of believing everything that is said as fact. This begins the misinformation. Add to that, a political campaign that is trying to get your vote, and they will twist everything to their benefit. So when you have a person who is already an outspoken supporter of candidate X, and their campaign sends out a statement about candidate Y, they will believe no matter how false it is. They have already bought in, and it is easier to continue to believe the lie than it is to stop and rethink everything one believes.
With all of this going on and building over the years, starting with 24 hours news, and then exploding with social media, we now have a population that will believe only certain outlets. What about facts? They don't matter. I used the word "truth" earlier because a truth is something that you believe to be fact. Truth doesn't have to be supported by fact but facts are true. Confused? Just remember that a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square. An environment has been created where those who research facts (real journalists, scientists, scholars, etc) have been ostracized by the opposing side. Their followers now believe that the people with facts are trying to push an agenda, when really what they are trying to do is present facts and evidence.
Remember watching a movie or a TV show where the villain was clearly an evil person but was manipulating their public image to be victorious. Then the heroes of the film kept trying to figure out a way to be able to broadcast the truth to the whole population, then the world would change. Then at the climax of the movie, the video is played on every screen in the world, and the all-powerful villain is now exposed. The people rise up and take back their freedom, and the villain meets their doom. Sadly, I feel that this now more fiction than ever. No matter how real the evidence, the people will always believe what they want, because the message has been manipulating them for too long. And my last sad fact is that people will read this, say you are right and point out examples but fail to see where they have been manipulated and misinformed.
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