Denialism is a part of human nature
Jun. 7th, 2010 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holly_evolvinghttp://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627606.100-living-in-denial-why-sensible-people-reject-the-truth.html?full=true
It makes sense. We're not rational creatures. We are knee-jerk reactors, intensely emotional, instinctive, illogical creatures. A small band of hunter-gatherers on the savannah, when confronted with a hungry group of juvenile male lions, does not stop to think and reason through the problem. It's fight or flight time. This is what we are. We may choose to use rational thought, and I would posit that the greatest thinkers are those who recognize when they are being irrational and switch gears before they speak, but we are not rational. Jumping to irrational conclusions is normal humanity with the filters off.
It makes sense. We're not rational creatures. We are knee-jerk reactors, intensely emotional, instinctive, illogical creatures. A small band of hunter-gatherers on the savannah, when confronted with a hungry group of juvenile male lions, does not stop to think and reason through the problem. It's fight or flight time. This is what we are. We may choose to use rational thought, and I would posit that the greatest thinkers are those who recognize when they are being irrational and switch gears before they speak, but we are not rational. Jumping to irrational conclusions is normal humanity with the filters off.