"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." Mark Twain

submitted by muellermeierschulz from (self.quotes)

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[–]magnora7 14 insightful - 3 fun14 insightful - 2 fun15 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

And this is because of ego. People hate admitting they were wrong, especially if they'll be socially shamed for it.

If we didn't have an ego problem, we'd be so much more quick to update our understanding of the world when we're fooled and realize it

[–]AirSeddit88 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Cognitive dissonance and cognitive bias are fundamental to psychology. We avoid paying attention to things that disagree with our model of reality and grab on to things that confirm our preconceptions. It is very expensive in time and attention to build a model of reality that doesn't conflict too much with personal experience, and we don't take kindly to things that wrinkle that tablecloth, as it were. It takes training to overcome this, and then only imperfectly.

That's part of what makes propaganda delivered by the MSM so effective. And it's what makes getting along with relatives over the holidays so crazymaking.