Depressing but true

[undyingking]

Two roundups which between them demonstrate just how useless humans are at thinking things through.

• Does ideology trump facts? Studies say it often does
  "If the findings of some political scientists are right, attempting to correct misinformation might do nothing more than reinforce the false belief...
  "Could this response be why, despite being repeatedly refuted in the media, the percentage of Americans who believe Sen. Obama to be a Muslim continues to grow?
  "It seems to suggest that this effect might lead to problems when it comes to efforts to educate people about controversial or politically charged topics..."

And, as if to neatly support those findings:

• Green idealists fail to make grade, says study
  "According to the researchers, people who regularly recycle rubbish and save energy at home are also the most likely to take frequent long-haul flights abroad...
  "Some people even said they deserved such flights as a reward for their green efforts...
  "[O]ne respondent said: 'I recycle 100% of what I can, there's not one piece of paper goes in my bin, so that makes me feel less guilty about flying as much as I do.'"

I'm sure I'm as guilty of this sort of thing as everyone else. Systematic denial of this sort is a mechanism that humans must have evolved very early, as an important species behavioural trait: if we estimated risks and consequences accurately, we'd probably never have bothered coming down from the trees. What's interesting though is that clearly it is possible to overcome it under certain circumstances. How can that effect be spread wider?

Comments

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, I guess plastic bags gained traction because they are so very evident by the sides of roads, caught up in trees etc. But presumably you could make thousands of them out of (generic piece of plastic tat).

Only the rich have the spare time to worry about the world rather than their own lives of course.

Which is OK, because the rich cause far more pollution and environmental damage through their consumption than the poor do, so should have more to worry about. But makes it all the more frustrating that their worry is mis-applied.