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In any media, people only see what they want. There's a psychological term for this, Motivated Reasoning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning htt
by kristopolous 10mo ago
In any media, people only see what they want. There's a psychological term for this, Motivated Reasoning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning
If you want to break this you have to know the person and ask key questions afterwards. Their distortion field is held together by beliefs and principles, not empirical analysis.
For instance, for my father, the question "how is this treating people responsibly? How can we expect the behavior of those guards to be held accountable?" would pierce this ... but really you have to know how the person doing motivated reasoning thinks.
- why-o-why 10mo agoSo does this apply to every single person all the time?
- kristopolous 10mo agoNothing does. It's about successful communication of authorial intent. 60 Minutes is not trying to say "Justice Served!" and shake pom-poms here. But, someone could read it that way, and it would be unintended.
- mlrtime 10mo agoHis Dad will be smart enough to know these questions are trying to set him up. Maybe try having a real conversation and not trying to change his mind. After all, there is a good chance you will be that Dad in the future (no matter how hard you tell yourself you won't be). Tell me how I now.
- kristopolous 10mo agoI'm almost 50. I won't be. I have friends who are becoming grandparents now, still no interest. I have half a century of talking with my father. If you think this is my first strategy as opposed to one that took years of therapy and personal struggle, I dunno what to tell you. There's a wide body of social and psychological research on this stuff including multiple university departments (communication, psychology, sociology, management, teaching, etc) because "simply talking to people" doesn't actually work.
- why-o-why 10mo agoThanks kristopolous. We have a very similar story (I'm a few years older). I think I'm at the "I've given up point" because his glee at others' suffering is just too painful to even address. So: he get's hellos at holidays and that's it.
- kristopolous 10mo agoPeople have discovered being an open sewer spewing hate and prejudice gets likes, views, reposts and advertisers It's also a very easy job. You don't need to do journalism, be diligent about citations and accuracy, use robust analysis or careful language. You don't even need a script. Just hop on a hot mic, blame an oppressed scapegoat and see money roll in. The content is evergreen, trivial to create and performs great! Just like you don't have to be a doctor to swindle people with phony medicine or a psychology degree to hustle people as a psychic. The problem is we've taking the smooth talking performative palliatives of these slick mountebanks and christened their confidence games as sacred free speech instead of the hatemonger hustle it is. And unfortunately, like Albania’s Nationwide Ponzi scam of the 1990s, these crimes have become institutionalized power and their bullshit is bringing the country down with them. Other than personal gain, what ought be the consequences of arsonists shouting "fire" on the crowded Internet?
- cafard 10mo agoReal conversations cannot involve one or more persons trying to change another's mind?
- calf 10mo agoIt's a very prevalent form of cynicism, which I find ironic because in high school every student learned to write persuasive essays, but "adults" like to tell each other not to change people's minds. It's a subtle meta-rhetorical move used to undermine rationalism and formal education.