"An earlier University of Michigan study showed that even when presented with clear evidence to the contrary, people who were strongly political rarely changed their minds on issues. On the contrary, the new facts actually made misinformed beliefs stronger. As the Michigan studies discussed here both found, people do not base their beliefs on facts: they base their facts on beliefs, even when those "facts" are totally unfactual. Even worse, "misinformed people often have some of the strongest political opinions," the Boston Globe reported, when discussing the Michigan study on facts and beliefs. Yet a third study, this one from the University of Illinois, showed that those who were the most uninformed were the most certain their beliefs were factually correct."
FULL ARTICLE:
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/study-sheds-light-obama-muslim-misconception?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Motherjones%2Fmojoblog+%28MotherJones.com+%7C+MoJoBlog%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
I found this article really surprising. How do you "win people's hearts" to a logical argument? I'm perplexed.
Old saying a college professor gave me that I've held on to:
ReplyDeleteMass media has educated the masses with just enough information to be more ignorant than when they started.