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Why do people fall for fake news?

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Are they blinded by their political ideology? Or are they just intellectually lazy?
Not just news there's a lot of fake documentaries there people are falling for.

It seems to have reached the level where it's a type of 'epidemic'.

I think a lot of it has to do with people putting blind trust in who they consider experts and failed to do research themselves to see if it's true or not.

So yeah, intellectual laziness does play a role I think.
 
Are they blinded by their political ideology? Or are they just intellectually lazy?

The question isnt whos lazy or not, whos blind or not, the question should be, whos thinking and asking the right questions and also yes, who do you trust? Because you ultimately have to trust something.
 

usfan

Well-Known Member
Indoctrination. Memorized talking points, instead of critical thinking, has taken over as the primary education and communication method.
 

Prometheus85

Active Member
I blame it on Trump.
"He who smelt it, dealt it."

Fake news has been around longer than trump. IMO it became prominent during Obama’s To try and discredit him at every turn. The it exploded with the rise social media and became mainstream with Donald Trump.
 

Quetzal

A little to the left and slightly out of focus.
Premium Member
This thread is ironically delicious because a few folks trying to take the high ground here frequent the very same biased sources they are trying to speak out about. Wonderful.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Not just news there's a lot of fake documentaries there people are falling for.

It seems to have reached the level where it's a type of 'epidemic'.

I think a lot of it has to do with people putting blind trust in who they consider experts and failed to do research themselves to see if it's true or not.

So yeah, intellectual laziness does play a role I think.

Probably best to avoid "news" altogether.
Seems a majority of people are manipulated by the news they hear, their thoughts and even actions. That's why fake news proliferates. It's a means of controlling the masses. While we try to keep it out of government control, any news source can have their own political agenda.

So if one doesn't want to be manipulated, maybe best to avoid the news altogether.
 

usfan

Well-Known Member
Probably best to avoid "news" altogether.
Seems a majority of people are manipulated by the news they hear, their thoughts and even actions. That's why fake news proliferates. It's a means of controlling the masses. While we try to keep it out of government control, any news source can have their own political agenda.

So if one doesn't want to be manipulated, maybe best to avoid the news altogether.
What is 'truth?' How does one avoid Indoctrination and delusion?
 

PureX

Veteran Member
People will believe what they WANT to be true way more often than they will believe something that they don't want to be true, is true. So the question becomes why would we WANT to be deceived? And the answer is that we are getting something that we need/want from the deception. What we are getting varies from person to person, and from issue to issue, but we are getting something in exchange for the willing self-deception.

One of the most common things people get from willful self-deception is the illusion of self-righteousness and superiority. Our egos seek constant validation no matter how right or wrong we might be, and if we don't learn to reign it in, it'll happily have us following the most absurdly improbable rationales to gain that validation.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
One reason is the idea that the press is objective and free of bias. It isn't.
Most of it isn't.


Media-Bias-Chart_4.0_Standard_License-min-1024x791.jpg


.
 
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Prometheus85

Active Member
The question isnt whos lazy or not, whos blind or not, the question should be, whos thinking and asking the right questions and also yes, who do you trust? Because you ultimately have to trust something.

Yes the question is who’s intellectually lazy or blinded by their political beliefs. Because fake news consists of "news" that is blatantly false
 
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