Willful blindness - the polarization of modern thought

[fuji]

I thought this was interesting:

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/current_20110525_48379.mp3

It discusses "willful blindness", the ways in which people intentionally deceive themselves, refusing to see what should be obvious. It's a general topic, and discusses the various ways people do this in their lives.

While she mostly talks about other kinds of examples of willful blindness, one of the topics she touches on is the way people isolate themselves to hearing only like opinions. They read and watch only books and news sources that they agree with, and refuse to expose themselves to news and opinions that would challenge their core beliefs.

Presently, with the web and the internet, there are so many news sources out there to choose from that you really can isolate yourself down to a view that is entirely in agreement with your own view.

The result is a kind of mass group think, where whole segments of society willfully blind themselves to various realities in the world, in order to maintain and reinforce their particular political beliefs.

It occurred to me (and she hints at in the podcast--so maybe discusses in her book) that this provides a good explanation for why modern politics have become so polarized, with opposing groups that appear to no longer even speak the same language, nor even really engage each other in meaningful debate.

 

[fuji]

As an aside... one of the reasons why I like forums like terb is that it brings people together who share one common interest (in this case, paid sex with women) but who come from disparate backgrounds. It's one of the few places you really run headlong into opposing views. Most political forums are left leaning, or right leaning, and end up being a farcical debate between people who all share fundamentally similar views.

 

[wet_suit_one]

This aimed squarely at you dumb assed partisans who would argue about whether the sun rises in the east and sets in the west if some political advantage were to be gained.

Partisans are idiots!

Thanks for this fuji!

 

[Zombie]

How dare you attack artisans! They are essential to our economy! ... what a lame joke, sorry

I totally agree with the OP though, I actually wanted to listen to this at work the other day, but missed it. Thank god for podcasts. It sure does seem like people are just unwilling to even engage in discussion on opposing views.

 

[shack]

I thought this was interesting:

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/current_20110525_48379.mp3

It discusses "willful blindness", the ways in which people intentionally deceive themselves, refusing to see what should be obvious. It's a general topic, and discusses the various ways people do this in their lives.

While she mostly talks about other kinds of examples of willful blindness, one of the topics she touches on is the way people isolate themselves to hearing only like opinions. They read and watch only books and news sources that they agree with, and refuse to expose themselves to news and opinions that would challenge their core beliefs.

Presently, with the web and the internet, there are so many news sources out there to choose from that you really can isolate yourself down to a view that is entirely in agreement with your own view.

The result is a kind of mass group think, where whole segments of society willfully blind themselves to various realities in the world, in order to maintain and reinforce their particular political beliefs.

It occurred to me (and she hints at in the podcast--so maybe discusses in her book) that this provides a good explanation for why modern politics have become so polarized, with opposing groups that appear to no longer even speak the same language, nor even really engage each other in meaningful debate.

I didn't even bother reading this because I didn't want to agree with you.

 

[Tangwhich]

As an aside... one of the reasons why I like forums like terb is that it brings people together who share one common interest (in this case, paid sex with women) but who come from disparate backgrounds. It's one of the few places you really run headlong into opposing views. Most political forums are left leaning, or right leaning, and end up being a farcical debate between people who all share fundamentally similar views.

That's a very good point Fuji.. the pity of it though is it seems nobody is interested in being swayed or objective. 99% of the time minds have already been made up and it's really just a vent session. Shame.

 

[groggy]

Maybe you can learn.
It only took a few days of calling you willfully ignorant, but at least you looked it up.

 

[K Douglas]

As an aside... one of the reasons why I like forums like terb is that it brings people together who share one common interest (in this case, paid sex with women) but who come from disparate backgrounds. It's one of the few places you really run headlong into opposing views. Most political forums are left leaning, or right leaning, and end up being a farcical debate between people who all share fundamentally similar views.

I would bet that I don't share a fundamentally similar viewpoint to the vast majority of the posters on terb, certainly not in the political forum. I'm fine with that, it's what makes life interesting.