The Root of the Problem

I stumbled across an article from Crooks and Liars on Current.com this morning that I found very poignant.

What's fact got to do with it?

Go ahead, read up.

Okay, if you decided not to read then I'll give you the bullet points (in a bulleted list of course):

• In the age of information, one could reasonably believe that information and fact should undo erroneous beliefs
• However, new studies show that instead of undoing such beliefs, it actually strengthens them
• Furthermore, scientific studies show that fear and the perception of threat also prevents people from accepting fact as, well, fact
• C&L's solution then is to bring the hammer down on news corporations, since the bias that fuels this phenomenon is built into our psychology
• Another solution they present is to tap into findings showing that those with higher self-esteem are more comfortable changing their minds

I think they did a fantastic job of articulating a subject that I've always sort of merely circled. Day-to-day I find myself more frustrated than inspired that people consistently believe in lies. Sarah Palin has found fame in it, Republican attacks against health insurance reform relied on it, and the 2010 midterm elections will likely be affected by it.

My problem, though, is with their proposed solutions. There really is no public accountability for news organizations, since any attempt to regulate them finds one lambasted in "1st amendment" arguments, there really is no natural, commercial way to regulate them, since the sensationalist, fear based reporting is what brings in the big bucks, and there is no natural psychological way to moderate them since, as C&L mentioned, the bias is built into us.

So I'm asking you guys, what can we do? As intelligent individuals, its not as difficult for us to question and re-shape our beliefs when presented with legitimate facts contrary to our already-held beliefs. But what about those mired a little deeper in the information quagmire with less tools to escape? Frankly, I think that improving self-esteem has already failed miserably, since it has created the most narcissistic generation of all time (extreme narcissists are even less likely to accept facts that contradict their subjective reality).

For my money, I think a cultural shift is required. The "information age" was supposed to bring about this utopia of enlightened minds but it has instead brought people's attention spans to their knees. According to recent studies (mentioned here for example) our attention span has actually regressed to the point that it resembles that of our primitive ancestors; analyzing every rustle and movement in search for predators. In order to counter-act the fast-paced news cycle, scanning of information, and deleterious effects of shallow conversation and thought, our culture must shift back from a rapid-fire information fueled one to a more pensive, more thoughtful, more deliberate one. That way people might instead analyze information more thoroughly as it comes to them, perhaps diffusing the hegemony of errant opinions based on flimsy facts in the first place.

Unfortunately, this one could be pretty hard to legislate.

But hell, what do you think? I believe we have enough intelligent people reading this blog to come up with a real solution. Just put your fingers on the keys and fire away.