posted on Nov, 15 2007 @ 06:12 AM
I wish I could find it... if anyone knows the link to this, please post.
I read a study showing people's behavior in regard to which news sources they consider credible and trustworthy.
They found that the following premise, while it seems to make sense:
People watch news in order to be exposed to new information.
... is not true.
They found this instead:
People choose their news sources to be those which affirm ideas that they already believe.
It is rare to find individuals who critically analyze the things they hear and are prepared to accept the logical conclusions they come to, even when
they challenge the assumptions that we use to base our relationship to the world around us.
To use an example, my grandfather believes the United States is the end-all-be-all of virtue, honor, and good will in the world. If I show him
confessions from the horse's mouth of atrocities our government has committed in our name, he explains, justifies, or refuses to believe that any of
it is true.
Is this a surprise?
For people who are interested in staring the beast of reality in the eye, and recognizing it for what it is in order that they may change it to make
the world better, how can we make our presentation to stiff-minded individuals so that they will not find our statements to be offensive?
[edit on 15-11-2007 by dionysius9]