A small commentary upon belief systems...

[canetoad]

5. Have you ever asked where these beliefs come from?

I have a neighbour who insists on the existence of chem-trails. I tell her it's only the vapour from the fighter jets from the RAAF base to the east of us. Or maybe the bizarre cloud effects we experience on Bass Strait, being one of the windiest stretches of water on the planet.

She obtains all her information from Facebook. I don't see any point in arguing with her because I'm not going to change her mind.

The problem is; not what she believes, but from where that information comes. I don't have a clue as to how we combat this wilful ignorance. I was on the internet very early on and marvelled at the expansiveness of 'cyberspace' but was always acutely aware of the dangers of a virtually unlimited public opinion forum. How would truth fare, at the hands of the masses?

It's the era of mind-manipulation, mass hypnosis. Louise Samways, an Australian psychologist writes about the ways that cults, marketers, gurus, break down critical thinking by exploiting psychological techniques; unregulated and unchecked.

Whole book is available here to download: http://www.louisesamways.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/DangerousPersuaders.pf

The book was written before the phemonena of the internet and social media. This kind of crazy shit was always around, but the internet allowed them to find each other and belong to an echo chamber.

We are a failed species.