Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Crow Fallacy
There were a lot of things that stuck out to me in Chapter 6 about false truths. It made me recall the saying "if something is too good to be true, it usually is." The idea that crows could possibly plan to drop their food while cars go by would even bypass the mental capacities of some human beings. The section about the "death tax" also made me realize how much we (as American citizens) believe in political commercials. The irony of it all is that we know how much politicians lie and deceive while in and out of office, and yet our jaw drops when we view these types of commercials that are portrayed as Public Service Announcements. The whole abortion issue really stuck out to me as well. After reading, I didn't really understand how people could believe that the abortion rate would rise after a conservative president who passed laws on abortion took office. This chapter goes to show that people will pretty much believe anything they hear and take it for truth. My parents always told me to take everything "with a grain of salt" because you don't really know if they are credible or accurate or even worth trying to fact check.
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I really enjoyed reading your post. I'm one of those people that believes what they hear, and I could see myself believe the story about the crows using the cars at nutcrackers.
ReplyDeleteMy dad always tells me that I am naive, and I would have to agree with him. When I was younger, he told me I was shrinking and I believed him. Again, when I was younger, he was watching Mothra (a giant moth attacks a city) and he told me it was on the news and a giant moth was attacking Philadelphia, and I believed him. A year or two ago, my sister got a new car and he told me that with the new car she also got a trip to the Caribbean...I (embarrassingly enough) believed that as well.
I guess I missed the whole "take everything with a grain of salt" lesson!