Blog 2

Zandra
Prof: Gallardo
Eng099

People has been easily fooled by rumors and they tend to believe in every little chunky news they hear without knowing its facts. In the text " I know the truth, so don't bother me with facts" by Jeffery Kluger he gives an example of people arguing about a mosque that is planned to be build at ground zero, which he states is "not really a mosque". researchers at Ohio State University wanted to see if they could make up peoples minds after presenting them the truth about the rumors. In order to be successful they though about the best way to present the truth. Two assistant professors of communication, R.Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet asked 750 people if they believed in the rumors about the mosque being built, every single one of them believed in at least one of the rumors related to the Islamic spiritual center. Less than a third of the people were willing to change their opinions even though they presented them with strong evidence proving them the opposite. Garrett believes that one of the reasons why people are so stubborn to hold on to their beliefs when someone contradict them, can be their self-inportance, the fear of being wrong. Other investigators researching to see if it can have something to do with the brain, how we react when we get confronted. Jeffery ends his paper by saying that we should base our decisions on what we believe by fact and not only with what we read or hear.

"I know the truth so don't bother me with facts" is the headline of Jeffery kluges passage, it pretty much describes his thoughts about how humans react to gossip. He tags us of being gullible and ignorant of the truth. Not because we want to, because we do not know any better, we do not care what the truth tells us. I must say I agree with mr Kluger because I do not know much better myself, I love to believe the hot gossip and news that I read in the papers, I trust the writer to know better than me. It is scary for most people to admit that they are wrong when someone contradicts them with proofs that proves them the opposite. Jeffery is right, we are excited about rumors and want to accept them right away as a fact without having any profs or what so ever. Facts does not matter, we are to scared of being told that we are wrong.

Let me start by saying that I love gossip, I believe in them as soon as I put my fingers on the remote to switch on the TV and hear the words coming out from the anchors mouth. I am excited to hear things about celebrities that I think I know (but I do not know at all) and when a sad or more serious news hit me, I expect the man who is telling me this to be educated enough to give me the right information. The scary part Is that I want to believe in it because it gives me some kind of reaction and satisfaction. The whole world is reacting wether it is with tears, joy or frustration.

People in general make up their minds on what their ego tells them is right. For example; Children believe that their parents are the source of all knowledge and will take anything they say as pure 100 pro cent facts. You can not argue with them because they wont allow you to prove their parents wrong. When the children grows up and form a mind of their own, that very same ego stays with them. It is hard for people to accept the thought of being wrong. Not because they are bad people or that they want to look good, just because they are used to it.

In conclusion, we are all a little ignorant and unfortunately often fools by thousands of rumors. I think we need to find a way to make the facts more relevant, maybe try to teach kids from an early age that it is very important to look at the facts before they make their opinions.



ps. I made spaces between my paragraphs because it did not work to make (I think it is called indentations in the text).