Wizards First Rule - People Will Believe Anything

"Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid." Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."

From Terry Goodkind's book - Wizards First Rule

One of my favorite parts of one of my favorite books in my favorite series: The Sword Of Truth.

The part of this conversation that always stuck with me is this:

"they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true."

Throughout my life I have seen this proven again and again. People buy into get rich quick schemes because the WANT it to be true. They attack diverse groups of people as terrorists because they are AFRAID they might be terrorists. They will try to change their partner's personality because they WANT to be able to. They'll avoid dealing with their own problems because they are AFRAID they won't be able to.

Stock markets and crypto trading are ruled by this. People at large want their investment to go up, and the increased interest drives up the price. They fear it will go down, and that fear drives down the price. There's a bit more nuance, but it very largely comes down to the hope vs. fear dichotomy.

Worse, it's usually the first impression that sticks.

Earlier today I wrote an article on the pitfall that is Multi-Level Marketing. Sure enough, the first comment is someone complaining about how MLMs just get a bad rep from people like me. I'm still unsure of if they bothered to read the article first.

Problem is, I wasn't sharing an opinion. I had clear, verifiable numbers to back up my assertion. Not statistics, just straightforward math.

But people WANT that kind of system to work. They want to make a living in what seems like the more "fair" distribution of what the company makes. This blinds them to the cold hard facts, and they will often defend their ignorance to the grave.

If I assert something more subjective, such as the benefits of wealth redistribution, I accept and expect some opposing feedback. If I'm giving verifiable facts I still expect some negative feedback, but if you can't present verifiable data that supports your side maybe you should reconsider your position. I'm always open to new evidence, but appeals to emotion get us nowhere.

I can't help but chuckle to myself at the implications of this post. I have so many conversations with anarchists on SteemIt who would probably point me to this post. I WANT the government to be reformable to a state where it can properly manage funds and really help people. I see them as being AFRAID of what the government does or might do. Flipping that, I am too AFRAID of what getting rid of government might result in, and they WANT freedom, which that government restricts. Within a single argument, we both latch onto different sides of the same coin. Maybe I'm wrong on my position; I know full well how difficult it is to change your worldview, and I'm no exception.

Of course, I don't think I'm wrong. No one thinks THEY are the one with the incorrect assumptions, otherwise they wouldn't think that way.

Guess the point is: Always question what you believe and form your conclusions based on the best, most verifiable information available. Everyone benefits from an individual's critical thinking.

/rant