As IF Times

link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_1ASmweXYs

If you look at recent news headlines on any given day, there is always reportage of events that are so astoundingly bizarre, that it makes one wonder about the people who are the subjects of the stories.  We’re not talking about bearded lady circus stuff; the strangeness of that passed long ago.  We’re referring to stories and narratives that are so at odds with logic and objective observation that you’d accept that something has seriously gone awry with humans as a species.

The absurdities in the political space dominate all headlines because they are not even subtle; there exist characters that spew demonstrable falsehoods with unabashed straight faces, daring anyone to deny the veracity of their utterances.  Not that politicians exaggerating is novel, but the scale of their fibs is so large that it’s also necessary for the public to meekly accept them.

Which brings up the discussion of why the public tolerates such blatant untruths from their ‘representatives’.  Many years ago, there was a fictional character in car commercials named Joe Izuzu.  As the prototypical car salesman, he would make outrageous and preposterous claims for cars which were clearly exaggerations and lies. No rational person would have taken these ads for anything other than humorous marketing.

Who could have known that today’s politicians used Joe Izuzu as an operations model?

As examples, the political administrations of both the United States and Canada recently declared that the economies of their respective countries were growing with little to no inflation and that their citizens were prospering.  Clearly, these are utterances from their speechwriters from their Monty Python political consultants.

Why these obvious knee slappers aren’t met with guffaws and derision from the media and public alike is for another piece, but suffice to say, lack of consequences for these blatant fibs only encourages them to continue.  The truly frightening part is that there is a contingent of people out there who actually believe the rhetoric.  Like the most recent Covid 19 scam, no amount of empirical data will convince some that the utterances from those in charge aren’t on the up and up.  The pronouncements remind us of the infamous Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, better known as Baghdad Bob, the Iraqi information minister during the first Gulf War.  Recall that he assured everyone that things were all fine in the country even as you could see the explosions behind him on live TV.

In a paper entitled, “How Gullible Are We? A Review Of The Evidence From Psychology And Social Science”, Hugo Mercier explorers the root causes of people’s natural gullibility.  From the abstract, he writes: “…it is also argued that most cases of acceptance of misguided communicated information do not stem from undue deference, but from a fit between the communicated information and the audience’s pre-existing beliefs…”  The italics emphasis is mine.

This is interesting, because whence do people’s pre-existing beliefs come? Most people’s belief systems can come from only a few places; Family, friends, church and school.  The implication from Mercier’s paper is that once beliefs are rooted from any of these sources, it is difficult to sway someone from these beliefs regardless of empirical evidence.  Not impossible but very difficult.

The frightening take away from his conclusion is that messaging needs to target and resonate with those core beliefs of that segment of the population that are pre-disposed to the message; actual content is irrelevant.  It could also be said that if something is repeated often enough, it becomes truth.

This could explain the continued adherents to Covid vaccines despite glaring evidence of their danger and damage.  It could explain TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome.  It could explain the lingering belief that by simply voting for candidate X, good things will happen. It could explain the belief that two planes took down 3 buildings.  It could explain the belief that by riding bicycles, driving electric cars and using paper straws as well as paying more taxes, that the world can be saved.  It could explain the belief that the world is overcrowded. It could explain the belief that a person’s sex is a mental and societal construct.

What is ground zero for formation of ‘core beliefs’?  Schools and media.  Joe Izuzu was ahead of his time.

link: https://tnc.news/2024/02/07/ndp-bill-jail-people-about-oil-and-gas/

In a rather bizarre story recently, a man aboard an airplane preparing for departure, suddenly ran to the cockpit door and tried to open it.  He was subdued and taken back to his seat.   The flight was delayed and authorities placed him under arrest when the plane was stopped.  Naturally, the other passengers were upset at being inconvenienced.  The man, for his part, claimed to have suffered an anxiety attack and felt that he had to escape the confines of the plane.

As we know, the incidents of open doors on airplanes, intentional or otherwise, is a big issue recently, so this story made the news.

By all accounts, the man seemed to be a normal, educated and functional person who is an engineer by profession.  But for some reason, he snapped and his hidden illness became evident to everyone. It’s likely that before the incident exposed him, he was considered sane.

It occurred to me that untold numbers of people are afflicted with some kind of latent mental issues which can be hidden for long periods of time.  That is until the dam breaks and an event reveals to the world that not all the mental bolts are tightly fastened. Statistically, these kinds of latent mental issues likely exist in a large number of the population and which affects people across all socio-economic strata.  It would be fair to say that if you found out that your surgeon manifested such behavior, you’d be leery of his capacity to function.  What about the guy who designs bridges, or the University prof, or the judge at a trial?

Or what about the people elected to make laws? At some point, so many politicians today have that moment when they try to open the airplane door….and yet they are still accorded respect by those endangered and allowed to stay in office rather than rightfully being ushered out the door for professional help.  Today’s example of the most recent aircraft door rusher is a Canadian MP by the name of Charles Angus.  He has proposed a private member’s bill in the House of Commons that would ban fossil fuel ads. Anyone who violates the ban could be fined up to $1.5 million or sent to jail for up to two years.

Oddly, the authorities have yet to rush and send him off to a psychiatric hospital despite the obvious harm he would inflict upon innocent bystanders.  Just because he wasn’t buck naked singing Sweet Caroline doesn’t mean the guy isn’t unhinged. The potential harm that would be inflicted is no less traumatic to others than the poor guy who tried to open the airplane door. In fact, this guy Angus is not the only guy at the airplane door.  He’s joining his fellow MP Steven Guilbeault and of course the head door rusher, Justin Trudeau who’ve already beat him there.  Trudeau of course pushes for climate policies to save Canadians from climate disasters…even if it kills them.

We could of course list ad nauseum the names of other politicians who have been allegorically rushing to open airplane doors for years, but somehow never get tagged as being clearly unhinged. Unlike an open airplane door, the detrimental effects upon innocents by inane policies are less immediate but the damage no less dangerous over time.  For that simple reason, people underestimate and thus tolerate these infringements on their safety…until it’s too late.