Seeing IS NOT believing for a lot of people.

[Bamabuzzard]

This past weekend I witnessed an example of something that I read in a C.S. Lewis book many years ago. In C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity he states that though people may say "They believe what they see", it is actually many times the opposite. Most people see what they believe, even when you put forth physical evidence to show them otherwise. This weekend, I witnessed this with none other than my dad. We'd been discussing something for weeks about what one of my kids was doing and wasn't doing regarding his batting swing at the plate during games. My son likes for us to video his live at bats during games so he can go back and look at them for swing analysis. The second half of the season he'd hit a slump and he and I started looking at video of his in game at bats. Ultimately, we found out the main issue but it took us slowing the video app down to frame by frame speed to find the problem. My dad, who is "old school" and doesn't believe in "all that technology crap" kept trying to tell me what the problem was and I kept telling him, "No, we've pulled the videos, slowed them down and found the issue".

Well, I finally just got my laptop out, pulled up the videos and literally showed him that what he said he was doing, he literally, NOT ONCE, never was doing, and it was something else in his swing that was causing the problem. EVEN AFTER showing him LITERALLY PHYSICAL VIDEO EVIDENCE that what he was saying was not true, he STILL believed he was right and what he was claiming my son was doing wrong, was true. I just sat there in shock and said "But I literally just proved to you that isn't true. How can you still believe that?" His response? "I don't care what that video shows, I know what I'm seeing." I just looked over at my mom in disbelief because I could tell he truly believed what he was saying.

I think this concept doesn't just apply to my dad and this particular scenario. I truly believe people do this in all facets of life.

 

[lowend]

It think this is going to be a major lasting impact of the Trump era. He has sewed so much doubt in our society. Regardless of what the evidence shows, what the talking head that most supports a person's viewpoint is who they're going to believe. Faith in our national institutions is at an all-time low. Of course, some of that evidence has been modified to present a particular viewpoint, so how can you even trust that?

 

[DzynKingRTR]

We live in a society with a lot of people that think "nuh uh" is a valid counterpoint.

 

[arthurdawg]

I believe that is part of what being human is all about!

 

[crimsonaudio]

 

[Bazza]

My take on your post, @Bamabuzzard, is aside from the purpose of your post, you're so VERY lucky to still have your Mom and Pop around and hope you appreciate it!

------------

As to the purpose of your post.....Paul Simon said it a long time ago......

 

[Bamabuzzard]

My take on your post, @Bamabuzzard, is aside from the purpose of your post, you're so VERY lucky to still have your Mom and Pop around and hope you appreciate it!

------------

As to the purpose of your post.....Paul Simon said it a long time ago......

Oh, I love and cherish my parents who are still alive and it pretty decent health. It is going to devastate me when I don't have them any longer.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

I think what can play a part in this is how much legitimately fake media is floating around out there. But a bigger role is the lack of critical thinking and lack of self-accountability to say "I was wrong; I'm sorry" when, like you showed, presented w/legitimate evidence. It doesn't matter where you were raised, how you were raised, what life events have occurred in your life; sometimes you're wrong, and it's better to own up to that.

 

[uafan4life]

...I think this concept doesn't just apply to my dad and this particular scenario. I truly believe people do this in all facets of life.

I've said it before, and I doubt I'll ever stop saying it...

Most people go through life trying their hardest to refuse to actually think, instead choosing to feel their way through things - all the while being fully convinced that their feelings constitute thought.

 

[mdb-tpet]

This past weekend I witnessed an example of something that I read in a C.S. Lewis book many years ago. In C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity he states that though people may say "They believe what they see", it is actually many times the opposite. Most people see what they believe, even when you put forth physical evidence to show them otherwise. This weekend, I witnessed this with none other than my dad. We'd been discussing something for weeks about what one of my kids was doing and wasn't doing regarding his batting swing at the plate during games. My son likes for us to video his live at bats during games so he can go back and look at them for swing analysis. The second half of the season he'd hit a slump and he and I started looking at video of his in game at bats. Ultimately, we found out the main issue but it took us slowing the video app down to frame by frame speed to find the problem. My dad, who is "old school" and doesn't believe in "all that technology crap" kept trying to tell me what the problem was and I kept telling him, "No, we've pulled the videos, slowed them down and found the issue".

Well, I finally just got my laptop out, pulled up the videos and literally showed him that what he said he was doing, he literally, NOT ONCE, never was doing, and it was something else in his swing that was causing the problem. EVEN AFTER showing him LITERALLY PHYSICAL VIDEO EVIDENCE that what he was saying was not true, he STILL believed he was right and what he was claiming my son was doing wrong, was true. I just sat there in shock and said "But I literally just proved to you that isn't true. How can you still believe that?" His response? "I don't care what that video shows, I know what I'm seeing." I just looked over at my mom in disbelief because I could tell he truly believed what he was saying.

I think this concept doesn't just apply to my dad and this particular scenario. I truly believe people do this in all facets of life.

And that's the raw definition of too many of our political stances...the evidence is there, but can one stop believing what they want and look at the facts, even if they aren't perfect and admit what one believes may not be true. I'll stop here before it gets pedantic.

 

[CrimsonNagus]

No better evidence of this then the turn against vaccines, and even doctors, in our society. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines are safe many people still believe they do more harm than good.

Some people don’t even trust their doctors anymore. I had a conversation a few months ago with my mom about something my doctor was asking me to do. She responded by saying she wouldn’t trust that and then told me about some wack-a-doo treatment she read about on FB.

When I said I’ll trust my doctor over randoms on FB, she responded by asking how could I trust my doctor when these folks on FB had done their research. I said their reasearch is just a few google searches and YouTube videos and my doctor went to medical school. She couldn’t believe I wouldn’t trust what she read on FB. I ended the conversation there and haven’t brought it back up again.

 

[arthurdawg]

No better evidence of this then the turn against vaccines, and even doctors, in our society. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines are safe many people still believe they do more harm than good.

Some people don’t even trust their doctors anymore. I had a conversation a few months ago with my mom about something my doctor was asking me to do. She responded by saying she wouldn’t trust that and then told me about some wack-a-doo treatment she read about on FB.

When I said I’ll trust my doctor over randoms on FB, she responded by asking how could I trust my doctor when these folks on FB had done their research. I said their reasearch is just a few google searches and YouTube videos and my doctor went to medical school. She couldn’t believe I woudln’t trust what she read on FB. I ended the conversation there and haven’t brought it back up again.

I've seen this happening in real time over the past decade. Medicine itself has plenty of issues, but you can still trust our data over healthfluencer data... Because they don't actually have data and clinical studies, they just make it up for the most part.

I see so much fake medical advice on the internet, some of it that could be deadly if followed.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

For anyone who is interested in the psychology driving this type of behavior, one book I highly recommend is You Are Now Less Dumb by David McRaney. It takes a deep dive into demonstrable aspects of self-delusion such as The Narrative Bias, The Post Hoc Fallacy and The Over-Justification Effect (among others.) It's an easy read and highly interesting. (It certainly beats some of my old psychology textbooks.)

 

[bamacpa]

The American writer Thomas Petty said it best in one of his early works - "You'll believe what you wanna believe"