bizarre "facts" in conversation

[target2019]

It gets worse. His vote counts as much as yours...

[ExFlyBoy5]

+1 on he is probably a moron.

Every Sunday, I have a Happy Hour with my Dad and a few of his friends. One of his friends is a retired legislator and newspaper editor (he's almost 80 years old) and very, VERY often will say stuff that is blatantly wrong. Stuff that was internet lore back in the early 2000's that have been rebuffed hundreds of times over, yet he still believes. He thinks Google is the devil and *any* time you mention Google (or any other online research like Wikipedia) he will shout you down. So...I learned to grin and say, "Wow! That's interesting!" and just forget it. BUT...things have gotten interesting as one of the new happy hour participants is a very intelligent retired engineer...and he calls him out on his BS very often. It's usually fairly entertaining, but then sometimes it just wears you down listening to a couple of old guys arguing about some of the dumbest things.

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh People who go around spouting nonsense need to have their credibility challenged, IMHO. My response would be to look up the facts about one ridiculous claim from several trusted sources and present the information to him. After that, if he continues, I would ignore him.

My 85-year-old dad is becoming this way. When I was at his house a few weeks ago, I showed him two trusted sources to verify facts, http://www.factcheck.org/ and http://www.politifact.com/ . I even bookmarked both websites on his PC and opened up each one. His first question, a reasonable one, was "Who are their funders?" Each website spells that out but he still wasn't satisfied, still choosing to believe his preferred presidential, and often fact-challenged candidate at face value over anyone or anything who dares question its truthfulness.

Sadly, I can't discuss politics with him any more.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrabbler1 Sadly, I can't discuss politics with him any more.

There are certain topics that are best avoided when there is a deep difference of opinion.

Discussion of facts is usually safe as long as the parties agree on the source of facts.
- health
- family relationships
- money
- religion
- race
- drinking/drugs
and I have experienced how each can get off the rails totally accidentally.

I think your friend suffers from catching snippets of facts and then generalizing. I have had a similar reaction when I ask friends to remove me from their mailing lists.

[Midpack]

When I was younger (and knew everything), I had a hard time not correcting bad "facts" by others. As I have gotten older, I refrain more often than not. Unless there are real consequences to the misinformation to the originator or others in the conversation, I try to let it go.

Now that I don't have all the world's knowledge cornered, I assume other listeners know better without me pointing out bad "facts." And often, others will, so I don't need to. Often times, I need only exchange a wink & a smirk with others to confirm they recognize the originator is 'mistaken.'

I can't imagine voluntarily hanging out with morons for very long. I usually quickly but politely walk away (and have many times)...

IMO politics and religion are topics that I prefer to react to others instead of proselytizing. As much as I read, I realize there will always be more questions and information than I can master. The amount of sketchy information these days regarding politics/politicians is astounding - though few people have any reluctance to having strong views. Sound bites have become knowledge to some folks.

Reminding myself to 'never argue with a fool' is usually helpful.

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyBoy5 +1 on he is probably a moron. Every Sunday, I have a Happy Hour with my Dad and a few of his friends. One of his friends is a retired legislator and newspaper editor (he's almost 80 years old) and very, VERY often will say stuff that is blatantly wrong. Stuff that was internet lore back in the early 2000's that have been rebuffed hundreds of times over, yet he still believes. He thinks Google is the devil and *any* time you mention Google (or any other online research like Wikipedia) he will shout you down. So...I learned to grin and say, "Wow! That's interesting!" and just forget it. BUT...things have gotten interesting as one of the new happy hour participants is a very intelligent retired engineer...and he calls him out on his BS very often. It's usually fairly entertaining, but then sometimes it just wears you down listening to a couple of old guys arguing about some of the dumbest things.

My bold. Sounds like southern finishing school, where the young ladies learned to say "Isn't that interesting!" instead of "Bullsh*t!".

[LOL!]

I do not mind teaching such people the real facts and setting them straight. After all, they usually vote and that affects me in the long run.

So far, none of these folks have stopped talking to me and giving me their version of the facts. However, there is no doubt that I have improved their lives.

[braumeister]

Like most of us (I assume), I've had several old friends who got into the habit of sending random ridiculous claims by email to everyone in their contact lists.

For most, I used to always reply with appropriate debunking references (frequently that would simply be a snopes link). In some cases, that worked well, and they were trained to not be quite so gullible.

The fun ones were those who were so clueless that they sent their nonsense to a long list of people with all the email addresses in the clear instead of using bcc. In those cases, I would sometimes reply to all with the corrections.

I would guess that about 10-20% of these folks wised up when they were repeatedly shown the error of their ways, and the rest just dropped me from their lists. Either way, I won.

I don't get on Facebook very often, but whenever I do, I see the same nonsense, just in a different format. I just have to remind myself that intelligence is on a bell curve, and for every one of us on one side of it, there is someone else on the other side.

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister Like most of us (I assume), I've had several old friends who got into the habit of sending random ridiculous claims by email to everyone in their contact lists. For most, I used to always reply with appropriate debunking references (frequently that would simply be a snopes link). In some cases, that worked well, and they were trained to not be quite so gullible. The fun ones were those who were so clueless that they sent their nonsense to a long list of people with all the email addresses in the clear instead of using bcc. In those cases, I would sometimes reply to all with the corrections. I would guess that about 10-20% of these folks wised up when they were repeatedly shown the error of their ways, and the rest just dropped me from their lists. Either way, I won. I don't get on Facebook very often, but whenever I do, I see the same nonsense, just in a different format. I just have to remind myself that intelligence is on a bell curve, and for every one of us on one side of it, there is someone else on the other side.

I do this a lot, too. I hit "Reply All" and then explain how the email is (usually) a hoax and include 1 or more links to Factcheck, Politifact, and Snopes. And like you, I either showed them the errors of their ways or just got dropped from the nonsense. A win.

[Music Lover]

Bet them $20 that they are wrong next time they make a false claim that is easy to prove inaccurate...and then follow through by providing the facts and demanding payment.

[GravitySucks]

If he's anything like my friend with the same 'ailment' the suggestions that more info would resolve the issue (Snopes, FactCeck, Politifact) will just be rebuffed with a " They're controlled by the government / mainstream media." It isn't a matter of too little good information as a over abundance of bad information. My friend will believe Natural News and David Wolfe over the CDC website. I really can't believe the political news sites he forwards actually exist. Thank god for a defined pension as the US banking system has been poised to fail since 1990. He's a great guy, but I have to limit my time with him just because it is so frustrating.

Some times his comments are quite entertaining though. Yesterday I learned AIDS doesn't exist, but they will have a vaccine soon on the market. Doesn't matter though since vaccines don't work. (None of them. It's a scam of sorts). I also heard that taking Tylenol makes you less empathetic.

[MissMolly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GravitySucks If he's anything like my friend with the same 'ailment' the suggestions that more info would resolve the issue (Snopes, FactCeck, Politifact) will just be rebuffed with a " They're controlled by the government / mainstream media." It isn't a matter of too little good information as a over abundance of bad information. My friend will believe Natural News and David Wolfe over the CDC website. I really can't believe the political news sites he forwards actually exist. Thank god for a defined pension as the US banking system has been poised to fail since 1990. He's a great guy, but I have to limit my time with him just because it is so frustrating. Some times his comments are quite entertaining though. Yesterday I learned AIDS doesn't exist, but they will have a vaccine soon on the market. Doesn't matter though since vaccines don't work. (None of them. It's a scam of sorts). I also heard that taking Tylenol makes you less empathetic.

Actually, the part about Tylenol may be true. They came out with some studies in the past week or so that show a correlation.

Taking common pain reliever Tylenol may reduce empathy, study says - CBS News

[mpeirce]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissMolly Actually, the part about ____ may be true.

It's funny how often "accepted wisdom" turns out to be dead wrong.


Regardless, confirmation bias is the main culprit here. If you hear something that fits into how you see the world, you are very likely to accept it. Everyone does this, not just those other people.

[eytonxav]

I'd suggest to him that he go on youtube.

[kcowan]

Yet another study! Its on the internets so it must be factual.

What is really amazing to me is how many apparently rational friends are so extremely gullible. Maybe I should put them on the Nigerian mailing list?

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki My bold. Sounds like southern finishing school, where the young ladies learned to say "Isn't that interesting!" instead of "Bullsh*t!".

Yep. This video does a good job of illustrating that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUFL2GT1-2g

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyBoy5 Yep. This video does a good job of illustrating that... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUFL2GT1-2g

My not from the Deep South DH overhearing asks - is that some black woman talking? No silly - that's four different white women! And I made him watch it.

Bless his heart! (Something my GA aunt says fairly often)

That was really funny.

[RunningBum]

Sounds like you don't want to offend and don't want to avoid the guy. I'd probably tell him that you'd have to see his source before you believe it. The problem is that there are so many spoof news sites like the Onion and also hate sites that will just make up stuff about politicians or others they are against that he probably will be able to give you a source. Then you're stuck debating the reliability. So maybe the better reply is something like "Does that seem like it could possibly be true? It doesn't sound like that to me. I don't believe it."


I have a friend who sometimes says things like this. We were talking about an arrest last year of a guy who abducted, raped and killed two women, and whether they'd go for the death penalty. She said "But what if the execution fails? Then they have to set him free." I just looked at her and said that can't possibly be true, but she insisted her husband read it somewhere and it was. I checked Snopes, and they point to a satirical news site that "reported" this. Some people will still believe what they want to and ignore fact checkers like Snopes.

[marko]

Well, it's a little known fact that guys that spew false information are...........
oh, never mind.

Personally I'd be intrigued to hear all sort of whacked out 'theories', wondering where they originated. But then, I just finished an entire "Ancient Aliens" marathon.

[mh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissMolly Actually, the part about Tylenol may be true. They came out with some studies in the past week or so that show a correlation. Taking common pain reliever Tylenol may reduce empathy, study says - CBS News

Some argue that empathy is overrated - for example

http://bostonreview.net/forum/paul-b...gainst-empathy

( hint : First you have to distinguish empathy from sympathy )


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