Leading Experts over time 🔗

It appears, to me, that over the past four decades that the general trust of certified experts by the public at large has been on a significant decline. To such an extent that your typical YouTuber or social media talking-head fails to recognize the Dunning-Kruger effect on display with every partisan slant they vomit from their lips. Some feel they have read enough web pages to be held to the same degree as a peer-reviewed and accredited scientist. After all, everything you read on the 'net is absolutely true… right??

One of the things we know from studies about how people respond to news is that nobody likes science or empiricism when it conflicts with their deeply held views. What’s happening now is that this crisis is locked into science and partisanship in a way that really strikes at the heart of [US politics] as it’s currently constituted…”Tom

Unfortunately, when it comes to political topics… and, much like that of religion, many people tend to take any conflict of their views from scientist as an attack on their deeply ingrain cultural identity. This is why the “Karens” from FaceBook are given a platform to reguritate any number of falsehoods, regardless of how “sweet” or comforting to the ear, it spreads like wildfire through a forest. Sadly, truth takes a much longer time to quelch those flames. And sometimes, the wildfire spreads so fast, it becomes “tradition” or “culture.”

Reign of Cognitive Dissonance 🔗

Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.Frantz

As more people become connected online, they become more aware of different modes of thought. They are confronted with other idealogies. It’s not they didn’t know any better. Sadly, it most likely the conditioning of their local culture. Unfortunately, some are unable to accept the actual reality of the world and seek the comfort of what they thought the world was like. This makes it easy for the so-called media experts and anyone with a YouTube channel to gain followers. These followers wish the reality as conveyed by the talking-head on screen.

Many social media platforms are designed to build inherit reality-bubbles. The reason for this is simple: it supports their ad-based profit models. By creating these bubbles, people are more likely to keep their eyes glued to the screen. This is what the advertizers want. Eyes to consume whatever they are trying to sell.

Research Fatigue 🔗

Research fatigue is the process or state in which individuals or groups tire of engaging in research or resist and avoid participation in any further research.Clark

Many researchers discover quickly that people only participate if they believe it will make an impact on society or meet some personal goal (including economic rewards). Once that currency is drained, most feel it best to leave the project. Likewise, if the majority of input seems to agree, then the “researcher” is less likely to search for the outliers.

For the typical lay-person, the default position on new information is to accept it without question unless it conflicts with current knowledge. The world is as it’s told to you until you decide to discover it yourself.

Unfortunately, many people have too many distractions of life’s dramas or entertainment to be bothered to actually research any topic beyond the surface. If someone with who they identify “confirms” a belief, they are not likely to truly question it. This is why, in part, many YouTubers gain so many followers. They select a demographic that incentivizes their profits. Marketers and advertizers often understand the psychology of the average person to ensure they can funnel their sales. The people that live in these “reality bubbles” often have social media groups that parot the same things which often reinforces their beliefs.

The “Karen” next door 🔗

It’s not often that the actions of an individual become a personified meme. But a “Karen” is a term that it is not simply a catch-all for all middle-aged white women - and is, rather, dependent on a person’s behaviour. What exactly is a ‘Karen’ and where did the meme come from?

In a world where everyone can express themselves on a global platform to be seen and heard by all on Earth, it’s easy for the “Karen” in your group to parot something he or she heard without filtering it through some entry-level research. As more and more start reguritating the same information like that inside an echo chamber, it starts to be heard as some kind of reinforcing “truth.”

The Death of Expertise as a Decline of Trust 🔗

Something strange happens when the Internet becomes synonymous with your world. If you only inhabit a digitized space of memes and rage, where partisan expression is the lingua franca of the realm and being on the “right side” is a badge of honour, then bothersome things like evidence, data, and knowledge are steamrolled by ideological fervor. We trust the right to express our feelings above all; and since we all have feelings, what we think and feel is equally important and worthy. We’re all experts of expression.
(https://comment.org/the-death-of-expertise-as-a-decline-of-trust/)

Where’s the trust? 🔗

This is how our world has devolved. People lack the time and care to think critically about information shared in favor of quick sound-bites that are designed to mollify and distract the consumer. This is a “reality” where your “Karen” shares the gospel but respresents it as scientific. Unless you are a critical thinker and subscribe to the Socratic method, you’re likely to accept the “Karen’s” word at face value.