Do you believe this?

It's easy to believe the media and the government if you don't look into the contrary and try to find the actual facts. And it's too easy to buy into whatever your favorite news person or party of choice says even if in the back of your mind you know it's not quite right.

But then for some it's nigh impossible to believe anything that comes from these guys. A certain level of paranoia can follow this mindset.

I guess I'm speaking from experience here. I've been on both extremes. People just need to learn to look at things more objectively without believing that they-or someone they trust or like-are infallible in their logic (especially in matters concerning politics where logic tends to completely abandon the conversation)

I wouldn't say most people believe those things. But there are a lot of people who don't bother to question or think for themselves.

For years my mother used to watch the news the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night... (habit) I broke that habit because a smart man told me "Why fill your head with such negative stuff.."

I truly believe if anything is really newsworthy my friends will be sure to let me know... Like Whitney Huston, I didn't find out about that until I actually saw a Facebook post.. about a day afterward.

People are controlled by television.. key word here "television" because it tells you what your vision is... I have a program or two that I watch when able but mostly my family and I have changed our habits... it goes off and we now have a family game night... a friendly game of cards, uno ...whatever .... it brings us closer together and establishes a tradition so much better then TV.

PT Barnum said " A sucker is born every minute " how true people will believe anything and basically allow themselves to be controlled by outside influences...

I refer to these people like cattle just chillin in the field not ever leaving were they are at for greener pastures..

Have a awesome day!

Due to the great demand created by the Internet for large volumes of immediate and up-to-date news stories, most news channels, large and small, and many other websites, have sacrificed quality and accuracy in favour of volume. In recent years, I have begun to trust the accuracy of news stories online less and less, and I am sometimes appalled at the poor quality of writing and reporting that is allowed – even by some of the large news sources.

Can we trust the Government? We should always question everything the Government says. And it does not matter which government is in power at the time or which one you support, every one of them must support and promote their own agendas, so naturally their news and info is going to be biased in their favour.

GT

Why do most people believe ALL what they see in the news? - Because overexposure creates an situation in the brain where you can imagine it to be true. Due to what is known as Availability bias; We subscribe something as being more true if we are exposed to it frequently.

Why do most people believe government cannot lie?Because government is framed in a way that suggests they do not lie. Bear in mind when they write speeches they have consultants who know almost everything about their demographic.

Why do people believe that government is all knowing, all caring, all powerful to solve any problem under the sun?same reason as above

Aaron Morton

Since when did people start believing politicians. Not in my experience here in the UK. Time and time again in polls a high number of people don't trust these guys with anything and that includes decision-making on their behalf. Hm so much so for politics!

You can never trust a large body of people as they all have conflicting interests at all times even though it's well hidden from the people.

Just a thought

@abugah certainly!
If you are an avid watcher of Fox news, you are likely to have a different view of the world than someone who is an avid watcher of CNN, who is going to have a different world view to someone who doesn't watch any news station.

Our brain can not process everything that occurs in the world so we create a representation of the world and this will dictate what our filters allow into our awareness and what it does not. Now in order to conserve energy (because our brain is inherently lazy) we develop heuristics so we don't have to use up energy thinking up novel ways of thinking every time we encounter a new view point.

So you have things like confirmation bias where you will focus on information that confirms your current thinking and availability bias where you are more likely to believe something to be true if you are exposed to it on a frequent basis.

Now we are not born with a particular political preference or ways of thinking so what we are exposed to most we are more likely to believe. If you imagine how many times a day we are subjected to constant political view points, it is no surprise we are influenced the way we do.

However this doesn't have to be all bad. If you are aware of this (for example you can read something like 'filter bubble' to see how the internet is starting to narrow your view of the world) then you can start to dictate what is in your awareness a bit more. This is where you read about successful people surrounding themselves with only successful people (because their influences will be around succeeding), not watch TV (so they are not influenced by biased news stations) and having strong belief systems (so their filters hunt out oppotunities to be more successful).

Make no mistake your brain is being influenced all the time and your decisions are being made before you're consciously aware a decision has been made (7 seconds, research shows). That is why is so important to:
a) have a strong feedback loop in place
b) not be so hard on yourself when you make a mistake.

This is why I emphasis mindset so much in my blog (aaronmorton.co.uk) - people have so much knowledge, when everyone knows the same stuff, its mindset that will get you ahead...but then im biased I am a business coach after all!!

If anything isn't clear here, please ask me and i will clarify further

Aaron Morton