Why do people believe weird things about people who believe weird things?
I've noticed that people very frequently ask, "How can such a smart person believe something so stupid?" Usually they ask it when some prominent scientist or other public intellectual is revealed to believe in some strange religion. (Arthur C. Clarke even asked it in that context in Rendezvous with Rama.) Michael Shermer even wrote a book entitled Why People Believe Weird Things, with special reference to Why Smart People Believe Weird Things.
Personally, I have a unique perspective on this question. I was the only evolutionist in an evangelical high school. People would always ask, "How can Wintermute be so smart, but believe in something as stupid as evolution?" Meanwhile, I'd look at Arthur C. Clarke and wonder, "How can someone so smart not believe that Jesus is coming again within the next couple of decades?" And, of course, Michael Shermer was looking at us and wondering, "What kind of brain pathology drives these people to Believe Weird Things?"
Ultimately, "why do people believe weird things?" isn't an entirely honest question. Take Bigfoot, for example. Is Bigfoot weird? Apes live in Africa, they live in Indonesia, and monkeys live all over the world. If someone believes that apes also happen to live in North America, well, gosh, what drives people to believe that crazy stuff? Then there's quantum mechanics, which, as we all know, is not weird in the slightest. Let's face it: weirdness isn't the defining factor here. What people really want to know is, "How come so many smart people disagree with me?" But Michael Shermer can't write a book with that title, so he has to spin it a bit.
I'm particularly amused by the explanation that so many people come up with: "Well, it just goes to show that people can compartmentalize their brains, and they keep all the rational stuff in the rational compartment, and all the irrational stuff in the irrational compartment." Translation: "It's inconceivable that any rational person could possibly disagree with my strongly held beliefs. But, here's someone who really does disagree with me! I know- he must have two brains. One of them works great, and believes the same kind of stuff I do. The other one disagrees with me, so it must be totally cracked!"
And whenever someone asks Why People Believe Weird Things, they're clutching at a security blanket. When they talk about "weird beliefs," they're assuring themselves that they can reliably identify certain beliefs as being obviously incorrect and not worth further analysis. You know, kind of like that time back in the 1980's when Newsweek mocked John Kerry as a "foppish conspiracy theorist" for suggesting that the CIA was secretly supporting the Contras. They want to believe that they're somehow different from the people who think that Al Gore is a shapeshifting pedophile lizard from Zeta Reticuli. Guess what? Believing in the lizard business doesn't drive people to support the invasion of Iraq.
Personally, I have a unique perspective on this question. I was the only evolutionist in an evangelical high school. People would always ask, "How can Wintermute be so smart, but believe in something as stupid as evolution?" Meanwhile, I'd look at Arthur C. Clarke and wonder, "How can someone so smart not believe that Jesus is coming again within the next couple of decades?" And, of course, Michael Shermer was looking at us and wondering, "What kind of brain pathology drives these people to Believe Weird Things?"
Ultimately, "why do people believe weird things?" isn't an entirely honest question. Take Bigfoot, for example. Is Bigfoot weird? Apes live in Africa, they live in Indonesia, and monkeys live all over the world. If someone believes that apes also happen to live in North America, well, gosh, what drives people to believe that crazy stuff? Then there's quantum mechanics, which, as we all know, is not weird in the slightest. Let's face it: weirdness isn't the defining factor here. What people really want to know is, "How come so many smart people disagree with me?" But Michael Shermer can't write a book with that title, so he has to spin it a bit.
I'm particularly amused by the explanation that so many people come up with: "Well, it just goes to show that people can compartmentalize their brains, and they keep all the rational stuff in the rational compartment, and all the irrational stuff in the irrational compartment." Translation: "It's inconceivable that any rational person could possibly disagree with my strongly held beliefs. But, here's someone who really does disagree with me! I know- he must have two brains. One of them works great, and believes the same kind of stuff I do. The other one disagrees with me, so it must be totally cracked!"
And whenever someone asks Why People Believe Weird Things, they're clutching at a security blanket. When they talk about "weird beliefs," they're assuring themselves that they can reliably identify certain beliefs as being obviously incorrect and not worth further analysis. You know, kind of like that time back in the 1980's when Newsweek mocked John Kerry as a "foppish conspiracy theorist" for suggesting that the CIA was secretly supporting the Contras. They want to believe that they're somehow different from the people who think that Al Gore is a shapeshifting pedophile lizard from Zeta Reticuli. Guess what? Believing in the lizard business doesn't drive people to support the invasion of Iraq.
posted by Wintermute at 11:34 PM
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