By Hal Brown. Read my blog for my take on other stories of the day.
Stories covered on my blog today include: No, Americans are not hankering for more “objectivity” in journalism, Trump earns a new title: Terrorist-in-Chief, Rep. Mark Walker Tells Jerry Falwell Jr. To Resign Over ‘Appalling’ Behavior, Psychiatrist as Fly-On-The-Wall at Trump's Axios Interview, Screw COVID’: 250,000 Bikers to Defy Common Sense for Nine Days at Sturgis Rally and more.
This diary was prompted by thinking about three recent stories.
Below, with my emphasis added:
1)
“Anti-maskers explain themselves” (VOX this morning) presents the reason one woman decided to give up on wearing a mask and she made this comment:
“It’s a violation of my freedom, I think, and then also I just don’t think they work,” Amy said. “A lot of stuff says it does, but then some doesn’t.”
2)
Before that I was inspired to write this by hearing about Trump attributing his believe/conviction that the explosion in Beruit was a “terrible attack”:
"It would seem like it based on the explosion," Trump said. "I've met with some of our great generals and t
hey just seem to feel that it was not a -- some kind of manufacturing explosion type of event. This was a --
seems to be according to them, they would know better than I would, but
they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind."
CNN US defense officials contradict Trump: No indication yet of attack in Beirut
3)
Trump: There are those that say, you can test too much. You do know that.
Swan: Who says that?
Trump: Oh, just read the manuals. Read the books.
Swan: Manuals? What manuals?
Trump: Read the books. Read the books.
Swan: What books?
Of course they are many instances where Trump has justified his belief in something by saying one or another version of “some people say” or “many people say” or at times just referring to books or articles that just don’t exist. The subjects range from the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine to polling numbers in his favor. He also justifies his beliefs in the false by touting his big brain or his gut instinct. This would all be the stuff of Fox Mulder’s poster about UFOs which famously says “ I want to believe” and we could dismiss it as entertaining fiction if it wasn’t the president engaging in magical and wishful thinking which at times is suggestive of his having a delusional psychosis.
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In the pre-Internet era with websites supporting anything no matter how bizarre and before you could order books online, people had ways to support deeply held fringe beliefs from faked moon landings, to the gunman on the grassy knoll, to the perils of childhood vaccinations, to the Flat Earth Society anyone might want to could find books magazines to support the belief. Now we have the possibility that efforts to stop the pandemic may be thwarted by anti-vaxxers who will find ample support online. See
“There is No Excuse. Anti-Vaxxers Put Us All at Risk”.
.
With less curious people who were parts of groups holding these kinds of beliefs all they needed to reenforce their belief was having the group leader tell them it was true.
Jim Jones and Marshall Applegate, the leader of the
Heaven’s Gate cult. No we have a cult led by Donald Trump.
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It is no surprise that bigoted Americans support Trump because he is as racist and xenophobic as they are. It’s is also no surprise why so many people strongly believe things that are not true.
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By now everyone reading this knows the definitions of concepts they may not have been aware of prior to Trump. One of course applies to his personality: malignant narcissism. The other is confirmation bias. Like malignant narcissism, i.e., narcissism that is malignant, the definition is easily discerned from the name: bias that confirms. It is put simply
“the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that confirms or supports one's priors belief or values.” (Wikipedia for more).
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The woman quoted in the VOX article may “merely” infect herself, her family, and others with Covid-19. Donald Trump, in stark contrast, infects the world with his with his pronouncements which are not only unmoored from facts but can be outright dangerous whether is is about the pandemic or promulgating a story about an attack by unknown forces in Beirut.
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Trump may, emphasis on “may”, have demonstrated that he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s on the MoCA. This tells us nothing about his ability to think logically and not succumb to confirmation bias. Trump really needs to be tested for confirmation bias.
Here’s a self-test that he could be given.