I don’t know about you but, at this point in time, I’m getting tired of hearing about the Presidential election being “stolen.” A lot of things are believed because they are obviously, or demonstrably true. But some things are believed because they are consistent with some broadly held vision of a number of people — and this vision is accepted as a substitute for the facts.
Someone once said, “Never underestimate the difficulty of changing false beliefs by facts.” I’m not sure who said it, but he or she was right on the money.
The problem is that false beliefs are not always just crazy ideas — they are often both plausible and logical — but there’s always something missing. Their plausibility often gains them political support.
I read a book on economics recently that discussed fallacies and the author indicated that sometimes what is missing in a fallacy is simply a definition. I think he’s right. Particular words appear to have special powers, especially in politics, like fair, equality, social justice, etc. The fact that terms like these are undefined is a huge political advantage. These “undefined” terms can mean wholly different things to different groups or individuals but for some reason they come together in support of movements that use such appealing words.
A lot of fallacies have been around forever — there are many reasons why they have such staying power, even in the face of hard evidence against them. Elected officials can’t readily admit that they were wrong, or some policy or movement they supported turned out badly without — in their minds — risking their whole career. No one likes to admit being wrong. But sometimes the cost of not admitting to being wrong are too high to ignore.
Many beliefs that collapse under scrutiny may continue to exist indefinitely when they are not examined, and especially when skilled advocates are able to perpetuate those beliefs by forestalling scrutiny through appeals to emotions and/or interests.
Some of the fallacies we read about today in the newspapers and on the Internet are old — maybe centuries old — and were refuted long ago, but many have been repackaged in up-to-date rhetoric to suit current times.
So people are going to continue to believe what they believe, based on appealing terms, politics, old wives tales, whatever… not the facts. I predict we’re going to continue to hear about the “stolen election” for many, many years even though facts prove statistically there is enough voter fraud to sway exactly zero elections.
— 30 —