SavannahMann
Platinum Member
- Nov 16, 2016
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As World War One ended, the German Veterans returned to their homes, and found essentially disaster. People were starving. People were wearing ragged clothing. They were cold, hungry, and miserable. The German Soldiers did not understand. They had won the battles. Their most recent push Operation Michael was a enormous success by their estimation. They won the battles but lost the war. It was inconceivable.
Hitler was among those who believed that Germany had been betrayed from within. The Germans would have won the war except for the Jews and their allies who betrayed Germany. Hitler was not alone. Many people believed this.
They believed that Germany had better technology, weapons, soldiers, Generals, and you name it. German was always superior. So the only way the superior could lose is betrayal. Communists and Jews were one in the same to Hitler and those like him. And they were responsible for Germany’s defeat.
Their experiences would not allow them to even consider the idea that the war was lost because of too many erroneous ideals that began it.
We Americans are no different. How many times have we all heard how the War in Vietnam could have been won if the Politicians were not opposed to Victory. And truthfully, the Troops in Vietnam won the battles. But they could never win the war. The Vietnamese had defeated the Japanese and then the French. Including some of the best soldiers in the world, The Foreign Legion. The Legion is legendary for a reason, they have performed miracles in history. But they couldn’t defeat Vietnam.
Right now, we are fleeing Afghanistan. We never stood a chance. Nobody in history has ever conquered Afghanistan. But we were going to be first. We weren’t going to conquer them, we were going to liberate them. If they didn’t know they wanted to be Liberated, we would explain it to them. Victory would go to our side because we had the technology, and the smarts to make it happen.
We “turned over” the Baghram Airbase to the Afghanis. We know they can’t hold it. We know the Taliban is taking over, and we don’t care. We’re like everyone else in History. We just want out.
In a year, Afghanistan will again be under control of the Taliban. Twenty years and thousands of lives and billions of dollars did nothing.
So why do people make this mistake? Well we like to think of ourselves as Normal. We’re one of the group, the crowd, the people. If we are one of them, we must think like them. Our experiences are not unusual. We may be smarter than those around us, or those around us may be smart as hell. But we’re normal.
We can’t imagine that others think differently. We can’t fathom the idea that we are a minority with our beliefs. We don’t want to believe it. It can’t be true. We’re normal. Most people, a vast majority believe as we do.
We are normal after all.
Then there is the internet. It presents a lot of opportunity for “Confirmation Bias”.
In Short. Let’s say you are driving to a stadium that you’ve never been to before. You are sure it is to the right. You see a bunch of cars ahead turning right. You follow them. The cars turning right are probably headed the same place you are. One has a bumper sticker showing they support the team.
You saw no signs, no directions, and didn’t want to use a map or ask directions of a local. You took the plethora of cars turning right to support your supposition that it was to the right.
Confirmation Bias is something you can battle. But with the modern internet, it takes effort. You have to seek out alternate sources of news. You have to consider what they are saying, and you have to search for the facts. Neither side in our political discussions have the truth cornered to their side alone.
If all you read is articles and news from people who share your beliefs, you start to believe that everyone thinks that way. So when faced with a result that doesn’t go your way, you start to figure out why it happened. The first and most obvious answer, you were wrong, doesn’t even get considered.
So like Hitler in Germany during the 1920’s, you start to find proofs, as you see them, of the betrayal or criminal. You read the articles, and you don’t question them. You have confirmation bias.
You are human, and making a very human mistake. A mistake made many times in history. And one we should have learned from before now.
Hitler was among those who believed that Germany had been betrayed from within. The Germans would have won the war except for the Jews and their allies who betrayed Germany. Hitler was not alone. Many people believed this.
They believed that Germany had better technology, weapons, soldiers, Generals, and you name it. German was always superior. So the only way the superior could lose is betrayal. Communists and Jews were one in the same to Hitler and those like him. And they were responsible for Germany’s defeat.
Their experiences would not allow them to even consider the idea that the war was lost because of too many erroneous ideals that began it.
We Americans are no different. How many times have we all heard how the War in Vietnam could have been won if the Politicians were not opposed to Victory. And truthfully, the Troops in Vietnam won the battles. But they could never win the war. The Vietnamese had defeated the Japanese and then the French. Including some of the best soldiers in the world, The Foreign Legion. The Legion is legendary for a reason, they have performed miracles in history. But they couldn’t defeat Vietnam.
Right now, we are fleeing Afghanistan. We never stood a chance. Nobody in history has ever conquered Afghanistan. But we were going to be first. We weren’t going to conquer them, we were going to liberate them. If they didn’t know they wanted to be Liberated, we would explain it to them. Victory would go to our side because we had the technology, and the smarts to make it happen.
We “turned over” the Baghram Airbase to the Afghanis. We know they can’t hold it. We know the Taliban is taking over, and we don’t care. We’re like everyone else in History. We just want out.
In a year, Afghanistan will again be under control of the Taliban. Twenty years and thousands of lives and billions of dollars did nothing.
So why do people make this mistake? Well we like to think of ourselves as Normal. We’re one of the group, the crowd, the people. If we are one of them, we must think like them. Our experiences are not unusual. We may be smarter than those around us, or those around us may be smart as hell. But we’re normal.
We can’t imagine that others think differently. We can’t fathom the idea that we are a minority with our beliefs. We don’t want to believe it. It can’t be true. We’re normal. Most people, a vast majority believe as we do.
We are normal after all.
Then there is the internet. It presents a lot of opportunity for “Confirmation Bias”.
Confirmation bias - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
In Short. Let’s say you are driving to a stadium that you’ve never been to before. You are sure it is to the right. You see a bunch of cars ahead turning right. You follow them. The cars turning right are probably headed the same place you are. One has a bumper sticker showing they support the team.
You saw no signs, no directions, and didn’t want to use a map or ask directions of a local. You took the plethora of cars turning right to support your supposition that it was to the right.
Confirmation Bias is something you can battle. But with the modern internet, it takes effort. You have to seek out alternate sources of news. You have to consider what they are saying, and you have to search for the facts. Neither side in our political discussions have the truth cornered to their side alone.
If all you read is articles and news from people who share your beliefs, you start to believe that everyone thinks that way. So when faced with a result that doesn’t go your way, you start to figure out why it happened. The first and most obvious answer, you were wrong, doesn’t even get considered.
So like Hitler in Germany during the 1920’s, you start to find proofs, as you see them, of the betrayal or criminal. You read the articles, and you don’t question them. You have confirmation bias.
You are human, and making a very human mistake. A mistake made many times in history. And one we should have learned from before now.