FAKE NEWS, STAR SIGNS AND BIRTHDAYS
I’m Michael. I’m 41, a straight white male, an angry X’er and a boastful Sagittarian. All of the above is fact. I was born that way. So what does it mean?
My age, my gender, my birthday and my sexuality can all be used to put me into boxes and ‘understand’ me better. And there’s always a bunch of ‘science’ behind those theories. But there’s also a whole lot of bollocks. Here’s why.
Confirmation bias and the power of positive thinking.
If you’ve read The Secret, you’ll know about the power of vision boards and positive thinking. Believe it and it happens. That’s what they say. You’ll learn many of the same lessons by watching Bob the Builder, but that’s another story.
The secret here is confirmation bias. It’s described by Wikipedia as a ‘tendency to search for, interpret, favour or recall information that confirms one’s prior beliefs or hypothesis’. If I look on the bright side, think positive and drink from the cup half full, then nothing in life is a problem. But if I’m doomy, gloomy and looking for problems, there’s plenty around to make me sad.
It’s true of people, economies, star signs and even religion. If I believe, I look for the truth and because I find truth, I believe. It’s a powerful thing.
Confirmation bias and belief in bad people.
Confirmation bias can also cause problems. Mostly through the ‘isms’. Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Extremism – confirmation bias can cause a lot of pain. The problem comes when people get put in boxes.
“All men are assholes”. “All millennials are lazy”. “All boomers are selfish”. All based in case-specific truth but amplified through confirmation bias to deliver fake news. Some men are assholes, some millennials are lazy, and some boomers can be tone-deaf and selfish in a bunch of different ways. But if we go looking for evidence of these flaws, we’ll find it. And if we treat people as people and look for the best in them, we’ll find that too.
What about Fake News and Star Signs?
Confirmation bias is the fuel behind both. Fake news is built around a nugget of truth. It’s rarely a lie and more often a reinterpretation of the truth through a lens of bigotry or fear. It’s people manipulating our need to confirm the things we know and using it to craft the stories they want to tell. “Once upon a time there was an ice-age. That means the world blows hot and cold… and that means I can safely deny Climate Change.” Fake news through confirmation bias.
And as for star signs? Complete bollocks. But it’s okay to believe it if you like it. All of the above to say, your brain tells you more about the world than the facts ever will, but your brain is built to tell you what it thinks you want to hear.
That’s what I reckon, what do you think?