"Why do we persist in believing things that aren't true?"

http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/mariakonnikova/2014/05/why-do-people-persist-in-believing-things-that-just-arent-true.html?utm_source=www&utm_medium=tw&utm_campaign=20140519

Personally. comes down to proper education... We as a whole do not focus enough on it... :blush:

Well the comments in the article seem to answer this question....

Here is one:
Sharka69 5 hours ago
It's really none of our business what other people believe. They are free to believe as they will. The idea that there is one "correct" belief about things like vaccination seems naive to me.

Only a fascist society believes there is one correct way to view things. This is how a lot of religions think which is why they are so abhorrent. Many use the findings of science in a similar way, expecting everyone to believe what science seems to show. What is the use of free will if everyone thinks alike?

Another:
SonyaM83 6 hours ago
One thing not addressed in this study is whether or not the cohorts in the experiment groups felt that that the source of information was reliable. One of the biggest hurdles for vaccination advocates is that much of the anti-vaccine population doesn't find the CDC or FDA trustworthy.
Until you can convince the anti-vaccine crowd that Big Pharma does NOT heavily influence decisions made by those two government agencies, any promotional materials will fall on deaf ears. Vaccine free cohorts currently believe they are getting information from a pack of liars. Whether or not it's true (that the CDC and FDA are liars) is irrelevant. What is relevant is the BELIEF that they are liars.

Probably the experience of being misled by authorities on various things in the past. Its a bit of a jungle and hopefully people are trying to do their best to be balanced, accurate and transparent.

On the vaccine issue I can understand both sides, one side is obvious for public health, but the other is probably based on that vaccine's do aggravate the immune response and too much of that 'is' unhealthy, perhaps moreso for some then others. It's apparently established some people cannot have vaccine's (from what I heard just yesterday) so maybe that needs to be better understood so everyone who can handle it gets it, but those who cannot know why and compensate as required to minimize the vulnerability. Having people afraid and acting out of fear is not helpful, nor is attacking people for trying to make informed decisions outside of conventional authority.

Otherwise short term belief in something untrue could lend a conditional advantage, if its used with understanding of the parameters the mistruth represents, such as a shortcut that sacrifices some aspect of accuracy to achieve some other advantage.

Knowledge is our friend, no matter what the situation is ALWAYS do the research ...the more you know, the better the decision making....

In my experience with controversial topics like this, the biggest hurdle to any logical conversation tends to be the language used. We inaccurately use words like "fact" and "science" to convey "opinions" or and then use those unsupported opinions to motivate behavior in others. The resulting behavior is based on "belief". Those beliefs will vary from individual to individual. These beliefs will be motivated by where the "facts" came from and how credible the source is to the individual.

Even the word "belief" is often misused or misunderstood. To "believe" something does not make it "fact" or "true" in the mind of anyone else. After all, that is the origin of "faith".

It is a break down in education. Many on the front lines of this argument for both sides have a poor understanding of the scientific method or how to properly describe the evidence for either opinion in a logical fashion. The human body is much to complex to speak about this issue in terms of simple "cause and effect".

Until we get back to conversing with properly defined language in an atmosphere governed by logic and devoid of obvious fallacies, the ultimate decision and the resulting good or harm from that decision will be determined by every individual on their own. Considering I have very little "faith" in our current society's ability to have a logical conversation about anything, I guess I'm okay with that.

"Education is the only way out, the way out of darkness, the way out of ignorance, into the glorious light"....
Taken from 'The great debaters' film.

There is a problem when it comes to debating contentious subjects in that there is a lot of misinformation out there; newspapers, the internet, even the television. It's hard to trust a lot of what you read day to day.

This vaccine war has been gong on for a while now. Facebook wont shut up about it.
Its like the abortion war all over again.

The article asks how can you change some one's mind?

Minds only change when they want to change. Some times the lie is easier to follow than the truth. Thats why Ishmael's only requirement is that the student has an earnest desire to save the world. As in teach only those that WANT to learn. The goal isn't complete consensus its having a readily available alternative to the lie.

"But I cant let these people be ignorant."

Only people with a ruler complex feel they cant let things happen. The Force is what lets things happen, not you. You're welcome to do your best when attempting to change a mind but always remember you might not succeed.

"A villain is some one that doesn't consider losing as a possibility, thats why they think the way that they do."

What I mean to say is that when you attempt to change some ones minds dont be disappointed if you're unsuccessful. Learn to take your losses better than your wins.