(6 minute read)
The Zaniness of Believing
- The earth is really flat
- The moon landings were faked
- Microchips are in the COVID-19 vaccinations
- The election was stolen
- Climate change is a hoax
- UFOs are aliens
What is going on in America that leads people to believe in such things? What causes people to put their trust in ideas that contradict science and/or common sense?
There are plenty of reasons that have been offered.
- Lack of education
- Lack of expertise
- Lack of critical thinking skills
- Lack of respect for education
- Lack of trust in institutions
- Lack of reading
- Too much access to the internet and social media
- Absent parents
- Terrible teachers
- Terrible students
- Terrible role models
- The media, politicians, religious leaders, etc.
All of these or a combination of any of them could very well be the reasons. To be sure there really is no one answer to the question why people believe in stupid theories. If there was we could fix it and be done with it. But there isn’t.
We may think that we are living in unique times of utter stupidity. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. What has remained constant throughout the years is our ability to hold unconventional beliefs. Even smart humans sometimes believe in things that are just not true.
It would be easy to poke fun at such people. However, all of us are susceptible to stupidity. We eventually give into it once in a while.
- Four in 10 Americans think that UFOs are evidence of alien spacecraft visiting Earth from other planets or galaxies
- In a 2021 survey on American beliefs 10% of the respondents believed the statement, “the earth is flat,” 9% said they were unsure (leaving only 81% to say the earth was NOT flat)
- In the same survey 12% of the respondents agreed with the statement, “NASA did not land on the moon,” while 17% said they were unsure (leaving only 71% to say that NASA DID land on the moon)
- In a late 2023 poll 36% of Americans believed Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election (leaving 62% to say Biden won with 2% offering no opinion)
You might think it’s harsh to refer to ideas or people as being stupid. Allow me to clarify. The Oxford English Dictionary defines stupidity clearly. It is described as “having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense.” Some people have a tremendous tendency to be stupid. Yet, all of us, from time to time, have moments of weakness, displaying a lack of intelligence or common sense.
To borrow a phrase from another iconic movie, “stupid is as stupid does.”
It may be easy for some to quickly dismiss people who have such “stupid” beliefs. Yet, some of these beliefs stem from attempts to answer the questions that have taunted us.
- How did we get here?
- How did “here” get here?
- What does it all mean?
- Why is there suffering?
- What happens after death?
Whether the questions are personally curious to you or not, they all fall under one big question. “How do we make sense of the world in which we are living?” We are all asking that question regardless of how active we are in our search for meaning. This is a question that nearly every human engages in.
If we measure belief by the number of answers provided over the centuries, it becomes clear. We have yet to definitively answer …any of them. Among all cultures there isn’t a general consensus of “a” meaning of life. The answers that are offered only provide us with a sense of significance or hopelessness, validation or wishful thinking. To be more precise any meaningful answers usually, but not always, provide comfort or its polar opposite, anxiety.
There may not be one answer to the question of why people believe these things. However, we can explore some of the motivations behind their decisions. And of course the question what causes people to conclude that some things are true despite proven facts and reason?
Comfort Beliefs
The number one motivation that drives our beliefs is the comfort it provides. We want to believe them because it makes us feel good. It is comforting.
So when 67% of Americans believe in a heaven, it is part of an evolutionary biological belief system. Similarly, 59% believe in a literal place called hell, which also brings them comfort. Good people are rewarded, bad people are punished, especially our enemies.
This comfort seeking activity seems to be embedded deep within our psyche. Scientists think it is one of those leftover evolutionary superstitions. It provides comfort in an attempt to control the personal circumstances surrounding us.
“If I do good things I will be rewarded. If I do bad things, I will face the consequences.” This belief attempts to control the randomness that happens in life to all of us. Anyone trying to introduce a more factual explanation is going against centuries of people comforted by such beliefs.
Comfort involves feelings. Even Madison Avenue and Wall Street know this fact. Americans make decisions based on feelings more than facts. In his 2009 best selling book, The Mind of the Market, Michael Shermer explains financial decisions made by Americans. These decisions mostly rely on emotions rather than reason. It is hardly a new idea.
Edward Bernays, self proclaimed father of modern public relations (he just outlived everybody else) mastered this manipulation decades ago. Bernays was born in 1891 in Vienna. He was the nephew of Sigmund Freud (yes, that Freud). Bernays used his uncle’s writings about society and the human psyche and applied it to communication efforts. In the 1910s he began to put into practice those efforts.
It is safe to say that we might not know about Sigmund Freud had it not been for his nephew. Bernays promoted Freud’s written works despite his uncle’s protests. Sigmund thought American’s were stupid and ignorant and weren’t worthy of his writings. Yet, those protests only lasted until money began to flow in from America. He then applauded his nephew’s efforts.
On his part, Bernay’s applied his uncle’s writings and argued that people do not necessarily reason out their choices. Instead, they are motivated by hidden urges, routines, and feelings. Do not try and sell your product by ways of reasoning with your intended audience. Appeal to their feelings, their urges, and their sense of duty or routine.
By the 1920s Bernays connects corporations with social causes, the first consultant to do so. Hired by the American Tobacco Company, he enlisted the help of “women’s rights marchers in New York City to hold up Lucky Strike cigarettes as symbolic ‘Torches of Freedom.’ “
In Mind of the Market, Shermer confirms Bernays’ findings. He updates them by noting various research findings in modern cognitive and biological brain sciences. Lo and behold what is confirmed is what Bernays proclaimed …don’t spend time trying to convince people they need your product or service …find out what their needs, wants, and desires are and sell the “product” with that aim.
Of course, what we learn is significant. If Americans are making decisions based on emotions, imagine how deeply they feel about making decisions of faith, science, education, or religion?
Recently I extensively posted here about the Christian myths of the afterlife. I spent half of my life believing in them and, quite frankly, they provided an enormous amount of personal comfort. Who wouldn’t want to live forever in eternal bliss if promised?
It is a very human response to want to believe in something. This desire brings us a great deal of personal comfort. A very powerful one at that.
Sources
- Stuart Ewn, PR! A Social history Of Spin, Basic Books, 1996
- Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, W.H. Freeman & Co., 1997
