Many Still Believe That Saddam Hussein Was Behind 9/11, and Now We Have Some Idea Why
Posted on November 4, 2009
Many Still Believe That Saddam Hussein Was Behind 9/11,
and Now We Have Some Idea Why
By Emily Badger, Miller-McCune.com
President Obama has had a hard time dislodging misperceptions about his health care proposal — those stubborn beliefs that there are death panels and free care for illegal aliens that don't actually exist in the legislation. Recent research about the way people defend their faith in false information, though, suggests calling out the inaccuracies may not be all that effective in converting the suspicious.
Sociologists at the University of North Carolina and Northwestern University examined an earlier case of deep commitment to the inaccurate: the belief, among many conservatives who voted for George W. Bush in 2004, that Saddam Hussein was at least partly responsible for the attacks on 9/11.
Of 49 people included in the study who believed in such a connection, only one shed the certainty when presented with prevailing evidence that it wasn't true.
The rest came up with an array of justifications for ignoring, discounting or simply disagreeing with contrary evidence — even when it came from President Bush himself.
"I was surprised at the diversity of it, what I kind of charitably call the creativity of it," said Steve Hoffman, one of the study's authors and now a visiting assistant professor at the State University of New York, Buffalo.
The voters weren't dupes of an elaborate misinformation campaign, the researchers concluded; rather, they were actively engaged in reasoning that the belief they already held was true.
This type of "motivated reasoning" — pursuing information that confirms what we already think and discarding the rest — helps explain why viewers gravitate toward partisan cable news and why we tend to see what we want in The Colbert Report. But when it comes to justifying demonstrably false beliefs, the logic stretches even thinner.
output
truthers take note
"This type of "motivated reasoning" — pursuing information that confirms what we already think and discarding the rest"
Cognitive bias
"A cognitive bias is a person's tendency to make errors in judgment based on cognitive factors, and is a phenomenon studied in cognitive science and social psychology. Forms of cognitive bias include errors in statistical judgment, social attribution, and memory that are common to all human beings. Such biases drastically skew the reliability of anecdotal and legal evidence. These are thought to be based upon heuristics, or rules of thumb, which people employ out of habit or evolutionary necessity."
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." Sun Tzu - The Art of War
I think you mean
Truth Deniers, the study would more accurately apply to that group.
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The Abuse of Greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power. - Shakespeare
Because every "truther"
Because every "truther" believed 9/11 was a false flag event from day 1, right? Hah.
It was the History Channel's program on 9/11 conspiracy theories that got me to question the official story because they were so obviously biased. I had heard the theories for years but it was such an obvious hit piece that I finally had the courage to read a few books on the subject.
What exactly
do you want Truthers to take note of?
Always trust the official story
Even if it used to include "Saddam did it". It's better to accept what the government tells you than to question it or think for yourself. RonPaulLIVES is a classic moron. But we like them around here now that we're "mainstream". Ain't it great?
I call it bliss, myself...
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"Let them protest all they want, as long as they pay their taxes.” ...credited to Al Haig, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State.
http://groups.yahoo.com/g...
http://www.dailypaul.com/...
Ron Paul = Red Pill
That's because humans are a bunch of morons
That's why the elite think they are so much better than most people, because most people are complete retards. Even here we see it. How many morons here would elect Donald Duck president if he said one negative thing about the fed? I see why people get exploited so bad, they're too stupid to see it and too lazy to do anything about it. I can't get over how stupid people are. It's funny really. Sad too, but mostly funny.
I have spoken with MANY...
who are absolutely adamant that Hussein and Iraq did 9/11...one man even explained to me that he HEARD Saddam confess to it on TV!!!
This is the brainwashing cycle we're up against. It almost reminds me of the old movie "They Live" by John Carpenter...a story about aliens running our planet as their 3rd World Country, and the humans are all living in a dream-like trance unable to see the truth (at least without the aid of 'special' sunglasses).
The people will believe anything Bill O'Reily or Oprah or Ellen tells them.
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BC
Silence isn't always golden....sometimes it's yellow.
Sad, but true...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Let them protest all they want, as long as they pay their taxes.” ...credited to Al Haig, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State.
http://groups.yahoo.com/g...
http://www.dailypaul.com/...
Ron Paul = Red Pill
I guess you don't remember Saddam using his WMDs on the
World Trade Center in 2001. Don't forget them towers. New York is the capital of America and Saddam hit us right there. Obama's a socialist (yep, even our team is full of idiots).