I love the idea of us talking more about #MediaLiteracy in general, and critical thinking touchstones.
I used to buy into the lie of "rational" debate, but it's much more effective to remember that this isn't how humans develop most of their views - or change them. (That said, some people are more *aware* of their emotional & cultural inputs than others, which makes discussion easier.)
Easy queries today, then:
What's your favourite fallacy?
And what's the fallacy you struggle with the most?
Not a fallacy, but an attitude?
I have encountered a few people who consider fiction to be lies, and thus silly at best or evil. A variation are those who are fine with fiction that's realistic and positive, but anything horror or occult or even too imaginative is sinful or literally cursed. They have been mostly conservative religious Black folks. It's definitely a cultural thing.
As for myself, I definitely used to believe that people could be rational in ways that they just are not. We may have degrees of rationality, but are primarily motivated by emotion.
I once read a study on how people make decisions, and nearly everyone makes a decision very quickly and based on emotion... and, people who considered themselves rational were actually the fastest to make a decision before they had information. (Least likely to question their decisions.)
@tyghebright @MLClark Emotions tell you which decisions matter to you. They are where we seek meaning.
Our heads may tell us how to accomplish something, but it is our emotions that tell us what we want to do.
Working in marketing and sales (writing business proposals), it's important to remember that we might write a 250 page proposal with all the facts... but most often, the decision's been made based on how someone feels, in the first two pages.
@tyghebright @MLClark (To be clear, I worked in the _bad_ kind of marketing. I'm the Devil. It's not like anyone would send me to inspect something full of happy kittens and people behaving well.
@tyghebright @MLClark I quit working in marketing because it turns out I cannot lie for a living, and that was largely what the job always was.
It really is about manipulating people's decisions by manipulating the emotional content and spin of ideas.
Of course that power can be used for good, but it typically isn't.