Chris Hayes filled in last night for Lawrence O'Donnell (who had a prior commitment).
Chris did a stellar job digging into the 'psychological underpinnings' of how some people form their beliefs --
and often 'stick to their beliefs' -- despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Because those beliefs offer them a 'psychological bridge' between the world they want and the world they got.
Even when convincing evidence to the contrary is presented -- that Obama is really is an American citizen -- that the evidence for Climate Change is overwhelming -- some people will stick to their original beliefs, because of 'the comfort' those 'world views' bring to their otherwise conflict-filled daily realities.
Their Beliefs, however irrational, help them to bridge the "Reality Gap" they are constantly confronted with in their day to day lives ... between the world 'as it is' and the world as they 'want it to be'.
The MSNBC Last Word video is well worth watching, if you missed it. Well worth watching a second time, for the stuff you may have missed the first time around, too.
The transcript is mine; Apologies in advance for any typos or missing text.
Chris Hayes:
Robert Gibbs said yesterday:
"There are no more arbiters of truth. So what every you can prove factually, somebody else can find something else to point to it with enough ferocity to get people to believe it. We've crossed some Rubicon into the Unknown."
Well said.
[...]
Chris Mooney, Science and Political Journalist,
and author of a piece in the current Mother Jones magazine.
Chris Mooney:
There is a Science of why we Deny Science.
There are Facts about why we can't Accept Facts.
Basically it's a theory called" Motivated Reasoning"
and what is does is takes modern neuroscience and shows how our processes of reasoning are actually driven by emotion, and we make up our mind sub-consciously, before were even actually consciously thinking, what we think -- and then were down a path.
And were already rationalizing.
Chris Hayes:
And so the Rational Thought, is actually a Retro-active construction ? ...
the big question I think is, and the profound one is, are Conspiracy Theories a difference in kind, or a difference in degree, from regular 'Belief Formation'?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Jonathan Kay, managing editor Canada's National Post Newspaper, and Author
Jonathan Kay:
Ultimately Conspiracy Theories are a way to Reconcile people's Ideology with Reality;
It's a bridge between 'the world they want to be' and 'the world that exists'.
So in the case of the 'Birthers' there's a lot of people who cannot get their head around the fact, that the people elected a somewhat left-wing President, and it doesn't jive with their view of the United States, it doesn't jive with their view of 'the way Reality should be'. So they've created a sort of Mythology, that allows them to believe that it didn't really happen [...]
Chris Hayes:
Is there something that delineates Conspirasists "belief formation" from sort of Normal "belief formation" with all of its biases, etc?
Jonathan Kay:
Yes there is. And that is the fact, If you take a Normal Rational Person, and you give them contrary evidence to what they believe, they will re-examine their original hypothesis.
Whereas if you take a Conspiracy Theorist, and you give them contrary information -- they will always simply 'expand the Circle of Conspirators [to fit the new facts] ...
I actually compare it to religion, in the sense that if you are a committed [believer] ... and someone gives you contrary evidence to your beliefs -- you won't simply say "I guess I'll re-examine my religious beliefs." You'll say "I take this on faith. And that's the way I believe." Conspiracy Theories in many ways are Religious Faith for a Secular Age.
[...]
Chris Hayes:
Is your sense of the internet, this is knock Number One of the internet -- that the internet is sort of reinforcing this 'cocooning' -- this sort of 'Knowledge Cocooning'?
Chris Mooney:
It's a role, but I don't think it's the only factor. I think there is a 'Reality Gap' between the Parties.
Republicans and Democrats believe different things, about a lot of issues -- and it turns out that Republicans are more likely to be wrong -- we can talk about that.
But one of the factors is that everyone has their own Experts, now. There has been a 30, 40 year campaign to build Right Wing Think Tanks to fight back against Academic Experts. And so everyone can say "I got a PhD who thinks this." and for every PhD, there is an equal and opposite PhD.
Chris Hayes:
I want to give each of you 30 seconds to say 'What we can do to combat it' -- because what strikes me in the case of Global Warming particularly, which is a very, very high stakes Conspiracy Theory -- that a majority of Republicans out there share. What did you learn on how to break this cycle that sort of, Conspiracy Theorists are under?
Jonathan Kay:
Well ultimately you have to teach people that Conspiracism, which is what I call this way of thinking, is akin to any other 'pathological way of thinking'. We've taught ourselves to get around racism, for the most part; We've taught ourselves to get around homophobia, and sexism in some cases. We have to teach people that Conspiracism is 'way of thinking' that is pathological, and you have exercise your mental self-discipline to try to get around it.
Chris Hayes:
Chris you get the last word on that ?
Chris Mooney:
Well it seem like emotions are drive us down the wrong path. So we need to de-emotionalize issues. And if we want to change somebody's mind -- we have to NOT hit them with Facts.
We have to hit them with a different way of thinking about it, that is more consonant, with what they feel is the way the world should work. And it's a different strategy.
Well done, Chris Hayes. Many Thanks.