Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Matthew Davis — Who believes fake news? Study identifies 3 groups of people

The results showed that people prone to delusional thinking, religious fundamentalists, and dogmatists tended to believe all news, regardless of plausibility.
Big Think
Who believes fake news? Study identifies 3 groups of people
Matthew Davis


Konrad said...

“Arguably, one of the most unique aspects of the 2016 election was the rise of fake news.”

That claim is itself fake news. Throughout history the corporate media outlets have rarely told the truth about anything, especially if the topic is politically charged, or it exposes war propaganda, or if the topic threatens the gap between the rich and the rest.

For example, since 1900 (at least) the corporate outlets have been falsely claiming that the U.S. federal debt is a “ticking bomb.”

Fake news (i.e. false propaganda) comprises much of the narrative that controls any given society. Hence we all believe fake news to varying extents. Arabs with box cutters did 9-11. Iraq had WMDs. Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 vanished into thin air. The US Civil War was about slavery. Iran seeks to “conquer the world.” Israelis are “innocent victims.” The U.S. government has a “debt crisis.” Holocaust.™

In each culture or society, there is no end to lies and bullshit, and it is difficult for any member of the society to be totally immune to all of the lies.

Whoever agrees with us is “open-minded.” Whoever exposes our bullshit is “stupid,” and is a “conspiracy theorist.”

The article says that one of the groups prone to believing fake news is people who are prone to delusional thinking. Again, this is all of us to varying extents. We are all prone (at least to some extent) to confirmation bias, in which we only believe and pay attention to things that seem to confirm our pre-existing beliefs.

Asking, “Who believes in fake news?” is like asking, “Who is a terrorist?” It all depends on perspectives, opinions, and on definitions of terms.

“It can also be beneficial to use fact-checking sites like Politifact or Snopes when you come across a story that smells fishy.”

That claim is again fake news. Politifact and especially Snopes are notoriously biased toward upholding the class structure and defending government lies.

Notice how most discussions of “fake news” are sales pitches. “Believe this source, since all other sources are fake news.”

Bob Roddis said...

Konrad is right. This "article" is fake news.

Noah Way said...

Reminds me of the old joke: there are three kinds of people - those who understand math and those who don't.