Stupidity, intentional chaos? or is there something else?

Remember when rumors spread like wildfire about Lady Gaga having a secret? Or the relentless accusations hurled at Michael Jackson? A few years ago, it's the bewildering array of COVID-19 conspiracy theories that dominate headlines. It seems history repeats itself, despite centuries of grappling with misinformation and its consequences.

Reflect on Your Thinking

My old theory was that spreading and believing fake news stemmed from sheer stupidity. I've noticed how real experiences are doubted while outrageous rumors gain traction. Politicians twist truths to sow chaos, and gossipers thrive on attention, often at others' expense. Making a rumor, and using this to attract the crowd costs them nothing. It's a vicious cycle fueled by those with impaired critical thinking or a thirst for drama.

Reducing the impact

I have always asked myself: How can I protect myself from the impact of fake news and rumors? How to prevent myself from unknowingly contributing to this phenomenon?

The truth is, it's not always possible.

We rely on external information for decisions, and even with effortful thinking, we can't verify everything. There would always be areas that we aren't specialised in and we don't necessarily have all resources or ability to test out if the information is right or wrong. A lot of our decisions are facilitated through unconscious processing. If we make every decision with slow thinking (which requires complex analysing, researching etc), there's high chances we would not have survived in critical situations that requires fast judgement.

Insights with Neuroscience

Studies show our unconscious mind, housed in the basal ganglia and cerebellum, guides many decisions without conscious intervention. That's how we can breath, and wink and our heart beat without us consciously making the decision to do so. This efficient system conserves energy crucial for survival.

More importantly, when information aligns with our unconscious biases, it's effortlessly accepted by our brains. This explains why prejudicial thinking often correlates to preformed biases, as stimuli align with our ingrained stereotypes are readily reinforced by our cognitive processes. This shortcut often goes unnoticed without self-awareness, so conscious efforts are needed to recognize and counteract its influence.

Explaining this with Social Science

Being the social animals we are, our thoughts, preferences and behaviours are greatly influenced by the community norms. The group cues we send to each other subconsciously shape what we suppose to desire, what we should oppose, how we should react to be accepted into a community. Just like how teenagers are susceptible to peer pressure in high school, we are wired to learn or adapt to prevent oneself being ostracized.

Unfortunately, group-think often perpatuates illusions. From small cliques at schools, to global rivalries in politics, such, psychological phenomenon once meant to foster cohesion for better survival, were ripe for exploitation by propagandists.

The Hidden Agenda

People do dumb things in a group, being used or for the sake of fitting in.

Institutions, profits from misinformed decisions. perpetuating cycles that benefit from obedience over critical thinking. Critical thinking, sadly, isn't universally taught; instead, conformity is often praised.

Corporates make sells by creating unreasonable standards to make people feel small, so these people could pay loads of money to fix a problem that was not a problem to begin with. Religions or cults, where 'faith' are encouraged as virtue, and people are hinted to be "flock of sheep" - encouraging you to follow and surrender to 'the shepherd' without question. Political parties, Marketers, your teacher who wants no trouble from her students...all benefits from you being an obedient, gullible little dumb ass. Well it do backfires, sometimes, since stupidity leads people to do unpredictable and dangerous things.

Navigating Life's Decisions

To make better life-decisions, we must actively reduce the impact of groupthink, by embracing diverse perspectives, and conduct thorough research. Encourage our children to questioning authority and foster an environment that accepts open debate. By valuing creativity and critical discourse, we empower ourselves against manipulation.

Stay smart guys.