The reasons why there are still people who believe Obama is a muslim.

[riverdeep]

Here's a short article by some brain researchers that shed light on why mud-slinging works. For example, ever wonder why Fox 'news' reports the same story night after night after night? Don't their viewers get sick of it and does it have any effect?

In another Stanford study, students were exposed repeatedly to the unsubstantiated claim that Coca-Cola is an effective paint thinner. Those who read the statement five times were nearly one-third more likely than those who read it only twice to attribute it to Consumer Reports (rather than the National Enquirer), giving it a gloss of credibility. Thus the classic opening line "I think I read somewhere," or even reference to a specific source, is often used to support falsehoods.

So, repetition is extremely powerful, especially with those predisposed to wanting to believe falsehoods:

Our brains tend to remember facts that accord with our worldview, and discount statements that contradict it. In one Stanford study, 48 students, half of whom said they favored capital punishment and half of whom said they opposed it, were shown two pieces of evidence. One confirmed the claim that capital punishment deters crime, and the other contradicted it. Both groups were more convinced by the evidence that supported their initial position, a phenomenon known as biased assimilation.

This is one reason that propagandists can be effective simply by creating confusion. Unscrupulous campaign strategists know that if their message is initially memorable, its impression will persist long after it is debunked.

They go on to give four guidelines for reporters who honestly want to get the truth across:

1. State the facts without reinforcing the falsehood. Repeating a false rumor can inadvertently make it stronger. In covering the controversy over a New Yorker cover caricaturing Barack and Michelle Obama, many journalists repeated the charges against the candidate - often citing polling data on how many Americans believe them - before noting that the beliefs were false. Particularly damaging is the common practice of replaying parts of an ad before debunking its content.

Here is the link to the original article, if it doesn't work try next link:
http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=00275

This article also has the points listed:
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/08/unsmearing-the.html#more

[billyoc]

1. I understand THAT part, it's the having sex with farm animals I don't understand.

:shrug:

[Epiphany4z]

2. well then

vote Obama
vote Obama
vote Obama
vote Obama
vote Obama
vote Obama
vote Obama
vote Obama

[KamaAina]

Very well, then. McCain is an adulterer! McCain is an adulterer!

oh, wait, bad example. That one's true. :P

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Willful ignorance...

[d_b]

4. exactly

they don't really believe that shit. they want to.

[theoldman]

5. The reason that some idiots still think Obama is a Muslim

is because they are idiots. BTW, an idiot is a level just below a moron.

[kestrel91316]

8. "morAn"

[tservo]

6. The Rev. Wright "scandal" should have ended those rumors.

People who still say that just aren't thinking. You can't be a Christian and a Muslim.

[riverdeep]

9. Apparently they believe that he's a SECRET Muslim.

That he's just playing a Christian on TV. And that once he gets into the White House, he'll have Bin Laden over for smoking hookahs and plotting how to take away your freedom (which is why they hate us!).

So for twenty some years he kept up the charade so that someday, if he got the presidential nomination, he would have some cover, you see. It's really all so logical...

[Karenina]

17. Amazing, eh? K&R!

[tavalon]

19. So they've confabulated Bush's fake Christianity and close ties with Bin Ladin with Obama?

Confused little sheep aren't they?

[csziggy]

20. OMG!!!11!!! Obama is the BAGDAD Candidate!!!!!1!!!

Instead of the Manchurian Candidate... :sarcasm:

Yeah, while he was in Indonesia or Kenya or the fabled secret visit to the tribal visits to Pakistan, he was brainwashed and for years worked for a pittance in the South Side of Chicago so he'd end up as our Presidential candidate and turn the US over to the <gasp> Muslims.:crazy: :tinfoilhat: :hide:

:rofl:

[TahitiNut]

7. Essential reading for ANYONE wishing to 'tune' their own brains.

This paper was first published in 1979 and is, imho, seminal.

People who hold strong opinions on complex social issues are likely to examine relevant empirical evidence in a biased manner. They are apt to accept "confirming" evidence at face value while subjecting "disconfirming" evidence to critical evaluation, and as a result to draw undue support for their initial positions from mixed or random empirical findings. Thus, the result of exposing contending factions in a social dispute to an identical body of relevant empirical evidence may be not a narrowing of disagreement but rather an increase in polarization. To test these assumptions and predictions, subjects supporting and opposing capital punishment were exposed to two purported studies, one seemingly confirming and one seemingly disconfirming their existing beliefs about the deterrent efficacy of the death penalty. As predicted, both proponents and opponents of capital punishment rated those results and procedures that confirmed their own beliefs to be the more convincing and probative ones, and they reported corresponding shifts in their beliefs as the various results and procedures were presented. The net effect of such evaluations and opinion shifts was the postulated increase in attitude polarization.

Remember when reading about "people" that you are one ... and "they" means "we."

http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/spring06/borgidae/psy5202/readings/lord,%20ross%20&%20lepper%20(1979).pdf

Once cannot engage in discussion on DU (or anywhere else) without wading (and sometimes drowning) in this behavior.

[riverdeep]

10. The problem is that this is the 'natural' way to think.

That is, unless actively countered, we all tend to fall into these errors. The blame first and foremost should go to the educational system. I believe one of the fundamental themes of education should be critical thinking, and how to use that 2+ pounds of matter in our heads to best effect. An owner's manual of sorts. As long as it's flexible enough to account for the differences in the way people think, it should be effective.

On another tangent to this, education, and our society as a whole, would benefit greatly if people were not made to feel ashamed for making a mistake. I think one of the reasons people dismiss counter evidence, besides that it's confusing, is that they will be looked at as being stupid for holding the belief in the first place if they admit they were wrong. It's okay to change your mind when new evidence, or a new appraisal of existing evidence, comes about.

[TahitiNut]

12. There's no question in my mind whatsoever that Critical Thinking should be emphasized in school ...

... from 1st grade through 12th and onward. No question whatsoever.

This bias is at the very heart of Acton's quote in my sig ... and MUST be actively addressed by each individual themselves. The tools can be offered and the skills exercized in school, but the commitment must be our own.

Insofar as "mistakes" ... I agree. We must eschew the word "wrong" since it has moral and self-worth associations. It's no wonder that we build defenses. "Incorrect" and "mistake" must then be seen as opportunities.

[AdHocSolver]

16. This is the way the education system, marketing, and corporate management train people to act.

There is nothing "natural" about this way of acting and thinking. It is imposed on people from childhood onward to be uncritical and pliable in interacting with authority figures. In school, children who are not submissive to authority and don't play the game are labeled "unteachable", or "hyperactive", and given failing grades and/or drugs to make them submissive. Middle class parents who want their kids to "succeed" willingly go along with this fraud without questioning it.

In the media, education, sports, and even on public transportation in our city, the public is subjected to nonstop propaganda touting this product or that. We are mentally drowning in a barrage of lies and half-truths. There is no time or place that we are not inundated with self-serving stupidity. Our entertainment is a storm system of unthinking inanities: humor that is not funny, drama that is nothing but inane violence, political punditry that is little more than racist bigotry and hate. Why are Limbaugh and O'Reilly, among others, so popular? Because people have been trained to feed on that stuff.

To develop critical thinking one needs some time and some quiet space to actually think things through. Nowhere is this allowed or available.

In the corporate world, raising "issues" with a boss is a sure way to kill your career. So people learn to not think, but merely parrot the party line of the day to protect themselves.

On a recent trip, I took a train and was fascinated by the number of people who did nonstop talking on their cell phones. Two guys in the seats in front of me made business calls at the same time for almost an hour. On the way back, a young women talked for almost an hour about her friendships and her love life. I wondered how people could talk about business or personal affairs where dozens of strangers could hear their every word.

This is not a "natural" way to think. People are trained to respond to stimuli the way that Pavlov trained his dogs to salivate. I consider myself fortunate to have been exposed to a few teachers and professors who actually encouraged critical thinking and even demonstrated how to think through a situation. These were eye-opening experiences.

As for people feeling ashamed when making a "mistake", that is a survival technique in an authoritarian society. The person higher on the pecking order is never "wrong". When Cheney shot his "friend" in the face, it was the friend who apologized to Cheney. If you want to understand how the "system" works, read some of the literature on authoritarianism.

[hootinholler]

13. Bad link?

Can you check it please? (On edit, the parenthetical 1979 which is part of the link is interfering)
Try here (PDF)

I wanted a copy of this paper.

-Hoot

[TahitiNut]

14. Here ... I put it n a 'tinyurl' ... IT'S A PDF FILE. (That's why I don't like masking it.)

http://tinyurl.com/6x264s

[sharesunited]

11. Take the oath of office wearing a red bow tie.

[Initech]

15. Pretty simple explanation actually::

*turns on TV*

Barack Hussein Obama...

*CLICK*

Barack HUSSEIN Obama...

*CLICK*

And I want to emphasize that his middle name is HUSSEIN...

*CLICK*

Barak Hussein Obama...

*throws remote through TV*

[KharmaTrain]

18. Shorter Simpler Answer

Repugnicans are RACISTS...nothing more or less.

It's "be afraid of the black man"...it wouldn't matter if his middle name were Hussein or Schlomo. The GOOP has developed an Orwellian codespeak over the past 25 years...putting out memes that are "dog whistles" to their "base".

[Danascot]

21. Ignoramorans