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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Facts or Factoids


We all know that our fears do not match our facts. Many people fear flying, but I never heard of anyone afraid of a cheeseburger. I never heard of anyone afraid to drive to the cheeseburger store (leaving aside the mentally ill who can't leave their house) but we all know that most auto accidents happen less than a mile from home. Moving doesn't help, either. The facts follow you.
What's got me worried now is neither irrational fears nor scary facts. It's scary non-facts, or factoids, as I call them. Factoids sound like facts, but they're not. We read that Social security is out of money. Factoid. Taxes are higher than ever, and are going up every year. Factoid. The USA is turning into a Socialist country. Factoid. Politicians tell the truth. Factoid. These should frighten us, but they don't.
That's what frightens me. 

1 comment:

mabry said...

People believe that which feel good about themselves. It may be family lore or tribal lore or folklore or urban legend. Logical thinking, collecting evidence, and being skeptical are too much work. We would rather accept tradition; we go with the flow.