this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025
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me_irl
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Wow, I was wrong I thought people changed their minds based on evidence. But based on this evidence, I don’t believe people change their minds based on evidence.
Obviously the best conclusions are either that:
some people change their mind based on evidence, some don't
Or, sometimes people change their minds based on evidence, depending on circumstances
😭 I feel like I've had this argument shot for shot. The Internet poetry of it all is astounding.
As I grew up, I was taught to be factual, accurate, and helpful
All of that has made my life much harder
Teach your kids to lie, teach them that people want to take adavantage of them, and teach them how not to get caught up in that.
People aren't convinced with facts, they are convinced with resonating emotional appeals.
Teach your kids so they don't get crippled by the disadvantage of pathological honesty
This ^
Does anybody have that pic of the Twitter thread that goes like this:
People will change their minds if presented with facts
Research has shown showing people facts opposing their views would actually strengthen those views
I don't care. I still believe people will change their minds if presented with facts
yea scroll down ;)
Wasn't there an actual screenshot of the conversation, though?
The vast majority of people don't base their positions on logic or data, but on vibes.
Then what builds those vibes?
Tribal concensus
Facts don't care about your feelings, but your feeling really care about facts.
In other words, people respond to good stories that they identify with, not boring lists of facts or salient logic.
They're eating the dogs… they're eating the cats… they're eating the pets… of the people that live there.
This reminds me of that terrific quote from "The Internet's Own Boy": "Aaron [Swartz] thought he could change the world just by explaining the world very clearly to people."
What he possibly didn't understand was that the people in power are, indeed, perfectly able to understand the facts, but they can and will simply refuse to do so. Or, as Karl Deutsch once put it so succinctly, and I'm paraphrasing here: "Power means not having to listen."
It's more important to aim for that yourself. It's more beneficial in the long run.
Yeah, I think that mental illness is called hope.
This is the type of person who won't change their mind when presented with the appropriate argument with the right facts and data
I don't think, my family made clear they hate me because I used to do it a lot when I was young
I’ve pushed back against western propaganda on here with direct source information, including leaks of State Dept cables and firsthand accounts from journalists, and people will still accuse you of being a tankie bot for not towing the propaganda line.
I don’t think they believe the propaganda is more true than the facts. They just don’t care.
Yes I have this