Confirmation bias is the common mental habit of searching for, interpreting, and remembering information that matches your existing beliefs while ignoring facts that disagree. It is an unconscious shortcut the brain uses to feel right, but it can lead to poor choices and closed-minded thinking. Oddly enough, this seems to be the psychological problem that the U.S. Government and Military have been subject to since the war in Vietnam. If you have followed my articles you will remember that the period of American global prosperity took a major turn in 1971 when President Nixon took us off the Gold standard and the US Dollar became fiat, or simply government issued with no backing. This was done because we had turned from a creditor nation to a debtor nation, meaning we were spending internationally more than we were bringing in. Going forward the policy was to maintain our economic and military hegemony in the so called ‘Free World’, while the USSR was still a threat. Then, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we doubled down on our hegemonic efforts by financializing the global economy and expanding our military to over 800 bases worldwide. This is not a critique, just the way things have occured since the end of WW2. Now, the writing is on the wall, those consolidated efforts to maintain global hegemony are quickly disintegrating and the sooner our Government and the Pentagon admit this unfolding reality the sooner we will all be better off!
Key Ways It Works
- Selective Search: You look for news, articles, or people that agree with your ideas.
- Biased Meaning: You twist neutral or unclear facts to make them support your side.
- Selective Memory: You easily remember details that prove you right and forget facts that prove you wrong.
Common Examples
- Politics: Believing only news stories that praise your favorite leader and calling all critical stories fake.
- Everyday Life: Assuming a certain type of driver is bad, and then only noticing when a driver of that type makes a mistake.
How to Stop It
- Seek Opposing Views: Read or listen to news sources you normally avoid.
- Ask Questions: Ask yourself if you would accept the same piece of evidence if it supported the opposite view.
- Talk to Others: Listen to friends who disagree with you and ask them for honest feedback