Everybody knows someone who expresses opinions that mystify, regardless of where you stand politically. You have probably found yourself saying, “How can they think that? They don’t have a clue…”
TrueNews can help with this, I offer this viewpoint: It starts with understanding the difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Here’s a useful definition that I use:
- Ignorant: you just lack knowledge about the subject, and haven’t seen the facts and evidence to form an educated opinion. There’s nothing wrong with being ignorant, I am every day.
- Stupid: You aren’t lacking knowledge or understanding, you’ve chosen to take a position that goes against the facts (given the evidence) for whatever reason.
For example, I met a guy once who was a flat earther, he truly believed that the Earth was flat. I asked him some questions, to find out whether he was ignorant, and needed some help in finding information about the topic or if he was stupid and refused to acknowledge the facts.
Turns out that he had made a choice, despite being aware of the imagery available, celestial mechanics, the number of people that would have to be on a conspiracy to fake these things, etc., to continue to believe that the earth was flat. Stupid.
We can talk about and consult with psychologists about why this might be, I could imagine several reasons for someone to take a stupid position, like wanting attention, but we won’t cover that here. Instead, let’s talk about how people can come back from #StupidLand.
First, let’s look at why people stay in #Stupidland.
I think a major reason for someone opting for stupid is fear.
Fear of not having a way out of their Stupid opinion, to save face or preserve their dignity.
Fear of losing love/friendship, being kicked out of whatever group, whether online or physical, that they’re part of. We all need to be part of a group, tribe, community, etc., for safety, to feel that we belong, that we’re supported, and that we’re loved.
There are other reasons as well, like wanting attention, expressing hatred towards someone or some group (which is really fear under the covers) to justify your own feelings, and many other things; but lots of these really come back to fear.
There sure is a lot to fear in this world, and maybe just because I’m not a young man anymore, but it feels like there’s more to fear. Instant access to info, clickbait and all the other things I talk about in these blogs contribute to that. It’s more important than ever that we find some common ground, a base from which we can feel part of a group. With the support of the human group that we’re all part of (that’s why I called this project “MeUs”), we can all feel supported and loved, and I know that we can address any challenge.
That’s where TrueNews fits in:
- By providing a base where we can all get out of ignorance by seeing all sides of an issue, and weighing in as part of the worldwide group of news consumers
- By providing a place where we can help others #StupidLand by posting Evidence and Fact information to our social media channels, allowing people sitting in Stupid mode to have a way out by acknowledging Facts and Evidence they didn’t know before
- And by allowing us to express our opinions (through the future TruePolls product), be sure that it’s real people that are responding, both to each other and to our elected officials as applicable.
We’re looking forward to being your go-to news platform.