Hard Questions

Sometimes in life it is necessary to ask ourselves hard questions.  And one of the hardest questions to ask ourselves and answer honestly is - Are you trying to learn, or are you looking for information to validate or reinforce what you already believe?

One of the big stories of 2016 was the rise in "false news".  I'm not a fan of the term "false news", because it seems to convey some legitimacy.  What is now called "false news" used to be called lies, or propaganda, or slander.

There are people that I have always respected, that I had thought were intelligent, rational people, who spread these lies and propaganda by sharing it on social media.

I'm blown away by it.

It seems that many people have become so polarized and locked into their beliefs that they will do anything,  say anything, and use any misinformation to support their position.

That is just plain scary.

Everyone, including me, likes to be right.  But I don't want to be right more than I want to be truthful.  I know that we all live in our own reality and all experience our own truth, but there really are facts out there that can be measured and recorded.

And the thing is, we can spend hours to years arguing about why the facts are what they are.  For example, the US Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) measures the incidence of autism in America.  In 2000, the recorded incidence of autism in the US was 1 in 150 children.  By 2010, the incidence of autism in the US was 1 in 68 children.  It was the same in 2012, which has led the CDC to hypothesize that we have reached a plateau, and the rates are no longer rising.

That is data that has been gathered and accumulated and analyzed.

Now, it is perfectly acceptable to argue about whether or not those diagnoses are correct now, and whether or not they were correct in the past.

It is perfectly acceptable to argue about causation, and correlation and treatment.

But the CDC statistics are what they are.

I chose this example to try to find a statistic that is what it is, while leaving much room open for debate.  The "false news" that upsets me the most is far more toxic.

Like people who say that the slaughter of innocent children at Sandy Hook Elementary School didn't happen.

And the people who say the a child sex slavery ring was being run from the basement of a Washington DC pizza parlor.

And the people who will call a success a failure, because recognizing a success does not match their internal dialogue, nor their internal belief system.

When you ask yourself the hard questions about why you believe what you believe, try as hard as you can to be objective.

Try to understand that just because you don't like a fact, or the source of the information, it can still be true.

Remember that debating how the facts were gathered, or why the source could be suspect is a different debate.  Try to remember the old adage that one eyewitness gets a conviction, two gets a hung jury, and three gets an acquittal.  That is a necessary caution as we all see things from our own perspective.

Accept that Photoshop is real.  A picture is no longer worth a thousand words.  Because I can sit in my house and digitally create a false image.

And when you suspend critical inquiry because the falsehood supports a narrative you want to believe, you are now a pawn to be manipulated in someone else's game.

Be wary.  Be skeptical.  Be cautious.  When you stop asking yourself the hard questions, when you stop forcing yourself to confront data that challenges and upends your assumptions, you have abdicated your free will.

And that should be something that no one ever wants to give up.