Something especially disturbing is to think that the above dynamics don’t apply solely to external partisan parties like the media or political groups, but also the inside of one’s own head.
Imagine a very biased coin that comes up Heads 99% of the time. If it gets flipped ten thousand times, 100 of those flips will be Tails (in expectation), giving a selective reporter plenty of examples to point to if she wants to convince you that the coin is extremely Tails-biased.
Suppose one knows ten thousands facts about reality and they mostly point in one direction but one’s mind has anchored on a given narrative or way of the world being. Selective [internal]-reporting is all to easy and once can convince oneself of quite strong the opposite position. It is all too easy to construct narratives.
As Davis said, this is a good post. Thanks!
Something especially disturbing is to think that the above dynamics don’t apply solely to external partisan parties like the media or political groups, but also the inside of one’s own head.
Suppose one knows ten thousands facts about reality and they mostly point in one direction but one’s mind has anchored on a given narrative or way of the world being. Selective [internal]-reporting is all to easy and once can convince oneself of quite strong the opposite position. It is all too easy to construct narratives.