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kate jack · 08-10-2008, 09:37 AM

There is so much information available nowadays. We are absolutely inundated with data from TV, radio, internet and print sources. On any issue, there is a plethora of contradictory viewpoints supported by seemingly contradictory facts.

Examples:

Climate change is real and driven by man vs. We can't even prove statistically significant temperature increase and man cannot influence climate anyway.

Oil is drying up vs. there is plenty of oil if we could just go get it.

Evolution vs intelligent design.

Big vs small gov't.

There are a million issues such as these where opinion seems evenly divided across the American polity.

My question is this: why do we hold the particular views that we hold on these topics. Few people are experts in any of these topics, yet most of us have beliefs about them and support a particular policy direction. What informs our beliefs?

I assert that most of our beliefs are simply inherited from our parents. And that most of our opinions about issues do not flow from actual understanding, but simply derive from the ideological lens through which we learned to see the issues.

All the discussion of climate change on this forum is a great example of this. How many people that have posted on the subject actually have any knowledge whatsoever about the subject? There may be some climatologists here, but I suspect 99% of the people weighing in know what they know from the media. The media they choose to believe is informed by their ideological sympathies. These ideological sympathies were inherited from their parents or other influential people in their environment.

I think most people choose what they want to believe, or have the choice made by their upbringing.

08-10-2008, 09:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
kate jack Tilted	Why Do We Believe What We Believe? There is so much information available nowadays. We are absolutely inundated with data from TV, radio, internet and print sources. On any issue, there is a plethora of contradictory viewpoints supported by seemingly contradictory facts. Examples: Climate change is real and driven by man vs. We can't even prove statistically significant temperature increase and man cannot influence climate anyway. Oil is drying up vs. there is plenty of oil if we could just go get it. Evolution vs intelligent design. Big vs small gov't. There are a million issues such as these where opinion seems evenly divided across the American polity. My question is this: why do we hold the particular views that we hold on these topics. Few people are experts in any of these topics, yet most of us have beliefs about them and support a particular policy direction. What informs our beliefs? I assert that most of our beliefs are simply inherited from our parents. And that most of our opinions about issues do not flow from actual understanding, but simply derive from the ideological lens through which we learned to see the issues. All the discussion of climate change on this forum is a great example of this. How many people that have posted on the subject actually have any knowledge whatsoever about the subject? There may be some climatologists here, but I suspect 99% of the people weighing in know what they know from the media. The media they choose to believe is informed by their ideological sympathies. These ideological sympathies were inherited from their parents or other influential people in their environment. I think most people choose what they want to believe, or have the choice made by their upbringing.