I continue to be amazed at the amount of "I have never seen this happen and therefore it never happens" beliefs that exist online.
I realized a long time ago that this was an extreme form of what we talked about in philosophy as #UnperceivedExistence (if a tree fell and no one heard it etc etc) but there is very little logic involved in a BELIEF that your LACK OF witness to an "event" means that the "event" didn't happen for ANOTHER PERSON or GROUP OF PERSONS.
@Myana EXACTLY.
You know I'm always going on and on about everyone's individual reality including how they understand language etc.
This doesn't happen in MY reality and therefore it doesn't happen in anyone elses.
This isn't what that word means to ME.
This information doesn't match the information I found in MY reality.
and on and on ...
@thewebrecluse This phenomenon underlies so much, too. It's the driving force that makes social bubbles so toxic. My mother-in-law's friends are all liberals so she categorically refuses to believe data showing that elderly people tend to support the GOP. My MAGA cousins don't know anyone who doesn't love Trump, so his bad poll numbers are clearly fake. I've met many people who argue, "It's cold here, so Global Warming is a hoax." As if they don't know what a 'globe' is!