A thought from far off New Zealand ...

" A thought from far off New Zealand.

Focusing on GW Bush, isn't entirely helpful. The bigger question is why are people in general and American's in particular so willing to believe complete nonsense. People even say they "believe it" and act accordingly. But if you can get them to sit outside their political party and the other groups they are committed to supporting, and ask a the question again, they will confirm that they KNOW what they say they believe is bullshit. How can that be? We all have the capability of knowing while we are also unknowing.

You need to understand two ideas. First about the burden of proof. Sir Carl Popper said that if a proposition is framed in a scientific way, no amount of evidence can ever prove that any theory is true. NO AMOUNT of evidence can prove TRUTH. On the other hand any single piece of evidence can prove untruth.

The second idea is the importance of "membership". People will go to great personal cost to establish and maintain their membership of groups that are important to them. People find in group membership something larger that themselves that gives their lives meaning.

This creates a potential clash between real events and what we expect and wish to be the case. For instance if I wish to see myself as a truly patriotic American Citizen, I might accept that the President of the United States is elected by the citizens, and perhaps even appointed by God. The President's word therefore is always to be believed, MY PRESIDENT would never lie.

That house of cards tumbles on any single lie. It does not depend on what the President was told, or what he thought he knew, or what advice he was given. There is no room to hide. Chinese walls don't work in Sir Carl Popper's world. The world contains a set of objective realities that have nothing to do with what side we are on. (Like a scientific reality.) The statements of the President either meet that test or they don't. Sir Carl's test is very strict. Any single failure destroys the entire argument for Presidential credibility.

Because of our loyalty to various organizations that we commit ourselves to be members of, we choose to be blind to certain facts that threaten our membership. We choose not to see things that we can clearly and plainly see. We do this as an act of self protection, to protect our own identity. When we commit to organisations that are imporant to us, we choose not to know or to dismiss or minimize facts that contradict our beliefs.

When we understand the ideas above, we can begin to appreciate why the USA is so strongly divided. Despite the appalling behavior of GW Bush and his administration there are still people who support the administration.

For about half of all Americans, to see the truth, to acknowledge it, is to attack organizations that one has given time and money and loyalty to. If those organizations are devalued one's life is devalued too. That's scary. If the things I truely believe are in fact based on falsehood, my whole life might lose it's meaning focus and purpose. Far safer to believe the lie. To support the lie and to defend the actions of those involved.

Too many people entering the world of public debate, come with a trumpet to blow. They come with pre-recorded music to play. No matter what the evidence is, no matter what the tone of the debate, those trumpets, and that pre-recorded music will be played over and over and over. There is no engagement in the process, no attempt to learn, and no effort meet other people in a real dialogue. That's the problem, and in some ways we are each part of it. "

John S Veitch

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