"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." --Bishop Desmond Tutu

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Ideology vs Facts: Ideology Often Wins

Remember this chart?



It shows how mis-informed people are who watch the most ideologically driven news outlet are. What's scarier, scientific studies are exposing more examples of ideology trumping fact.

Saying that correcting misinformation does little more than reinforce a false believe is a pretty controversial proposal, but the claim is based on a number of studies that examine the effect of political or ideological bias on fact correction. In the studies, volunteers were shown news items or political adverts that contained misinformation, followed by a correction.
So even if you deny something, it can simply reinforce the opposite of the truth. America, the land of Sheeple.

No comments: