Human beings are bayesian. Nobody changes their mind instantly on almost anything. They collect information and compare it against their internal view of the world and update that view accordingly. Confirmation bias makes us interpret data in a way that more likely agrees with what we already think and believe (yes - all of us - you to dear reader).
A slow steady push of data and facts may change some folks over time. But you can’t expect to just flick a switch and see all of MAGA change at once. But nobody reports on that one guy who read this and suddenly thinks “yeah - he probably did something”.
To be fair, there IS information that can make you immediately re-evaluate a person.
To me, it was Musk’s “pedo guy” rant back in, what was it, '16, '17? Up until then, I thought he was an okay guy, doing tech things to improve humanity in general, and all the negative stuff being just… him being on the spectrum. It took me the moment he started throwing a very heavy accusation around quite baselessly to realise how shitty he is. A singular moment, a singular event, a singular piece of information made me re-evaluate everything I knew about him and see him for the shitstain he is.
What we know now about him begging to go to Pedo Island his choice of accusation makes so much more sense than it did at the time. Just goes to show, insults say a lot more about the insulter than the insultee
To be fair, there IS information that can make you immediately re-evaluate a person.
Oh - for sure, yeah. I suppose I may have been too absolute in my phrasing. It also depends on where you’re coming from. “Seems okay” is a lot closer to “is terrible” than “He’s gonna save humanity” is.
I had a similar “I think this guy’s doing some cool shit” to “waitaminute - why’s he calling some guy trying to save kids a pedophile” moment myself.
That was the point he jumped the shark for me. His Twitter takeover, constant placating of the right and efforts to get Trump re-elected had already pushed him from “edgelord memer and shitposter” to “alt-right nutcase”, but the salute immediately jumped him to “irredeemably evil monster”.
Oh, the fascist confirmation came in 2020 + the takeover of Twitter to “give right wing voices the platform they deserve” or whatever absolute pile of bovine faeces he claimed.
Also crushed whatever goodwill I had toward Tim Urban as a balanced and neutral intellectual in pursuit of a better world through education and truth. Just another paid hack sucking the musky dick.
The only thing that really matters is what your in-groups believe. Some people consider news sources one of their in-groups, so if they see something in the NYT or The Guardian, they’re likely to believe it. But for many people, they only believe their friends and sludge like fox news. You could show them a mathematical proof of something, and if you’re out-group, they won’t believe you.
For this reason, it’s important to talk to our idiot friends and family, because that friendship is the only way to get them back to reality.
For this reason, it’s important to talk to our idiot friends and family, because that friendship is the only way to get them back to reality.
This is a very important point. Many many people judge the quality of the information they receive based on how much they know and trust the source. Even if they’re arguing with you you’ve still put a thought in their head that may provide enough doubt to change in the future.
Human beings are bayesian. Nobody changes their mind instantly on almost anything. They collect information and compare it against their internal view of the world and update that view accordingly. Confirmation bias makes us interpret data in a way that more likely agrees with what we already think and believe (yes - all of us - you to dear reader).
A slow steady push of data and facts may change some folks over time. But you can’t expect to just flick a switch and see all of MAGA change at once. But nobody reports on that one guy who read this and suddenly thinks “yeah - he probably did something”.
To be fair, there IS information that can make you immediately re-evaluate a person.
To me, it was Musk’s “pedo guy” rant back in, what was it, '16, '17? Up until then, I thought he was an okay guy, doing tech things to improve humanity in general, and all the negative stuff being just… him being on the spectrum. It took me the moment he started throwing a very heavy accusation around quite baselessly to realise how shitty he is. A singular moment, a singular event, a singular piece of information made me re-evaluate everything I knew about him and see him for the shitstain he is.
What we know now about him begging to go to Pedo Island his choice of accusation makes so much more sense than it did at the time. Just goes to show, insults say a lot more about the insulter than the insultee
Oh - for sure, yeah. I suppose I may have been too absolute in my phrasing. It also depends on where you’re coming from. “Seems okay” is a lot closer to “is terrible” than “He’s gonna save humanity” is.
I had a similar “I think this guy’s doing some cool shit” to “waitaminute - why’s he calling some guy trying to save kids a pedophile” moment myself.
And the Nazi salute. The pedo thing made me think he was just a piece of shit. But that confirmed he was also a fascist.
That was the point he jumped the shark for me. His Twitter takeover, constant placating of the right and efforts to get Trump re-elected had already pushed him from “edgelord memer and shitposter” to “alt-right nutcase”, but the salute immediately jumped him to “irredeemably evil monster”.
Oh, the fascist confirmation came in 2020 + the takeover of Twitter to “give right wing voices the platform they deserve” or whatever absolute pile of bovine faeces he claimed.
Also crushed whatever goodwill I had toward Tim Urban as a balanced and neutral intellectual in pursuit of a better world through education and truth. Just another paid hack sucking the musky dick.
The only thing that really matters is what your in-groups believe. Some people consider news sources one of their in-groups, so if they see something in the NYT or The Guardian, they’re likely to believe it. But for many people, they only believe their friends and sludge like fox news. You could show them a mathematical proof of something, and if you’re out-group, they won’t believe you.
For this reason, it’s important to talk to our idiot friends and family, because that friendship is the only way to get them back to reality.
This is a very important point. Many many people judge the quality of the information they receive based on how much they know and trust the source. Even if they’re arguing with you you’ve still put a thought in their head that may provide enough doubt to change in the future.
People try and do that but it doesn’t work too well