

Why do people persist in believing things that just aren't true? - denzil_correa
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/mariakonnikova/2014/05/why-do-people-persist-in-believing-things-that-just-arent-true.html

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relampago
This is very interesting. Linking those that are suspicious of the MMR vaccine
with people who used to think the world is flat, people who just stubbornly
"don't want to be right," people who are dumb? Hmm, ok I'll bite.

The writer is acting like the debate has happened and is over, that the reader
already knows this truth. This tone should drive suspicion of the actual goal
of the writer. Or am I jumping to uneducated conclusions too?

As a reader I want to be educated but in this piece the writer doesn't tell me
why the MMR vaccine is safe. I don't know if the MMR vaccine does cause autism
but I'd like to at least hear evidence why it doesn't.

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sopooneo
I think the write is making an assumption (warranted, in my opinion) about her
reader's knowledge level. She does not defend vaccines for the same reason she
does not defend the spherical earth theory.

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relampago
Yes, "in your opinion." I agree as well, all I have is an opinion. I'd like to
hear a scientific opinion.

I thought it was awfully presumptuous to leave out science in such an
important issue. I guess we'll have to settle for another opinion piece masked
as scientific fact.

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dubfan
There is no such thing as a scientific opinion.

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dTal
That's like, your _opinion_ , man

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igravious
These are disturbing findings but not all that unexpected. Anyone who's really
probed other people's belief systems will have come to more or less the same
conclusions in an anecdotal way. More worryingly these findings relate to why
people will kill and die for (in the name of) some beliefs but not others.

What might be an interesting follow on for the HN crowd is how the digital
realm or the internet changes any of this.

What think ye?

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kps
The internet allows people who believe in fringe nonsense to find each other
and reinforce each other's beliefs. In the past, this only happened with
mainstream nonsense.

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omilu
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends
on his not understanding it. -Upton Sinclair

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EB5
Why do people persist in believing things that just aren't true?

Like God?

