Seeking the truth

About a month ago I saw two articles in the newspaper (which I saved because I knew I would eventually get to writing about them).

They would have both caught my attention anyway, but seeing them just four pages apart made a stronger impression.

False claims blur line between mass shootings, 2020 politics
by Will Weissert and Amanda Seitz of the Associated Press

https://www.apnews.com/bd653f4eb5ed4f34b6c936221c35a3e5

I saw both in The Oregonian, which changed this title to "False claims blue 2020 lines".

The article largely focused on false claims about the Odessa shooter who killed seven people, claiming that he had a Beto O'Rourke sticker on his vehicle and initially that he was a Democrat Socialist, followed by claims that he was a registered Democrat, all three of which are false.

The article focused on how quickly rumors like these spread, and how attempts to correct the false information don't gain the same traction.

The false claims fit into a framework that might warrant further exploration later, but for today's topic we are just going to go to the other article.

Why does so much news seem negative? Human attention may be to blame
by Amina Khan of the Los Angeles Times

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-09-05/why-people-respond-to-negative-news

This title was also changed, which may be something to think about when deciding if you are comfortable reading only headlines.

This article reports on a study from the University of Michigan that recruited 1156 people in 17 countries. The study's lead author was Stuart Soroka. I mention that because accepting information at face value is risky, as demonstrated by the first article. Even a compelling sample size with a clear trend can have variables and other factors, and the article gets into that.

For me, if a study sounds suspect to me, I will usually try and look at the source and methodology and sample size. Doing so often reinforces my skepticism. The problem is that if the conclusion sounds logical to me, I probably won't look it up. (Later I may wonder and have a hard time finding it, which is why I try and at least note sources now.)

Being more accepting of that which confirms your biases is nothing new; you can find lots of studies on that. However, if we are primed for the negative - which appears to be true - and false claims spread quickly - deliberately by a few and then enthusiastically by many - we get into a situation where it is easy to have a worldview that is both negative and wrong.

I am just finishing up a book on crime that talks about the misperceptions about the frequency, types, and targets of crimes versus the reality. Esther Madriz says this:

"Living with these images confuses the imagined with the real and creates a society in which most people live according to the imagined."

We cannot do that. If we believe that truth is the most precious gem, we can't go along believing falsehoods that encourage our biases about who is bad and good and smart and stupid.

So dig deeper, read more, ask questions often. Always stay close to the Spirit, remembering that the fruits of doing so are peace and love, not gloating and smugness.

It matters now and it is going to matter more.