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For a sizable fraction of people, when the facts conflict with their biases, they choose to reject the facts and double-down on their biases.
by atmavatar 14d ago
For a sizable fraction of people, when the facts conflict with their biases, they choose to reject the facts and double-down on their biases.
- lokar 14d agoRacism is a very powerful belief system.
- shermantanktop 14d ago-isms of all kind are powerful. But the most powerful are those that give the believer a distant group of people for them to blame for all their troubles, which are often self-inflicted.
- anonymous_user9 14d agoAre you saying that calling people racist is the worst bigotry?
- mitxela 14d agono they're agreeing racism is bad
- zmgsabst 14d ago[flagged]
- bix6 14d agoPretty fascinating dem vs rep split. Dems say everyone experiences racism. Reps say white people experience it. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/05/20/views-of-how-much-discrimination-racial-and-ethnic-groups-in-the-u-s-face/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/05/20/views-of-how...
- zmgsabst 14d agoWe must be reading different charts — the only one I can see has consistent numbers among Republicans (50%) but high numbers for Democrats (90%) except for Whites (20%). So your characterization is completely wrong: Republicans mildly think everybody does, while Democrats deny white people do.
- bix6 14d agoWe must be on different planets since America and its institutions are majority white. > 94% of Democrats say Black people face at least some discrimination, compared with 54% of Republicans. 90% of Democrats say the same about Hispanic people, compared with 54% of Republicans. 83% of Democrats say Asian people face widespread discrimination, versus 51% of Republicans. By contrast, Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say that White people face at least some discrimination (55% vs. 21%).
- deleted 14d ago[deleted]
- solid_fuel 14d ago> False accusations of racism (and similar moral slander) is the first step in dehumanizing an outgroup. Accurately describing the racism that motivates the politics and actions of a group is the first step in addressing the way they dehumanize their opponents.
- maxerickson 14d agoMore likely something like describing Trumpism.
- shermantanktop 14d agoI guess people are reading a lot into what I said. If the shoe fits, yadda yadda. Others pointed out the meta, which is that if you want -ism to hate some people, a good way to do that is to say that their -ism hates you. I suppose that could be extended to third or fourth levels of meta.
- atmavatar 14d agoIt's more general than that. Anti-vaxxers are a good example. Despite studies repeatedly debunking the link between vaccines and autism, plenty of people still believe vaccines cause autism. Many people who know someone who has experienced side effects from a vaccine start to believe vaccines are dangerous regardless of any studies demonstrating how exceedingly rare said side effects are. Flat Earthers are another example. While undoubtedly some of their ranks are people just trying to be contrarian, the true believers will find alternative explanations for every piece of evidence you try to show them that Earth is indeed round.
- airstrike 14d agoFrom an outsider's perspective, it's to be expected given the existence of cognitive dissonance. I just wish people would snap out of it _eventually_