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posted by janrinok on Sunday January 16 2022, @10:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the By-the-inch,-it's-a-cinch-but-a-mile-takes-a-while dept.

We've previously discussed ( https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/12/11/1847236 ) how it becomes impossible to reverse the polarization of a community once their differences become too great, and how that plays out both here at SN and in the wider world. Science Blog has a piece ( https://scienceblog.com/527745/computer-model-seeks-to-explain-the-spread-of-misinformation-and-suggest-counter-measures/ ) about a PLOS paper titled "Cognitive cascades: How to model (and potentially counter) the spread of fake news" ( https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0261811 ) which uses an interesting computer model to explore how this actually happens.

The model demonstrated that if the new information is too much at odds with a person's existing belief, it will be ignored. Furthermore, if that belief is connected with the person's identity, their current belief will be strengthened as a defense against cognitive dissonance. Interestingly, though, a succession of new information that gradually nudge the person to adjust their beliefs can, over time, cause the person to adopt a belief that is very different from the one they started with. This sounds like how psy-ops manipulate targets to accept extreme views.

What was the gradual change of ideas that have led national political parties to be ever more different from one another, and who fed them those messages?


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by aristarchus on Sunday January 16 2022, @11:01PM (10 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday January 16 2022, @11:01PM (#1213271) Journal

    Do I strike you as a barely literate mouthbreather?

    I, as well, vote "yes". It's a shame, Phoenix, you used to be a rational person. Now you are just a divisive old fart.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   -2  
       Troll=5, Insightful=1, Informative=1, Touché=1, Total=8
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @12:33AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @12:33AM (#1213284)

    But As A rEaL LiBeRaL his viewpoint is invaluable!!/s

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by aristarchus on Monday January 17 2022, @02:12AM (1 child)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Monday January 17 2022, @02:12AM (#1213301) Journal

      Are you suggesting that Phoenix666 is actually hemo? I thought sockpuppetry was forbidden!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @10:49AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @10:49AM (#1213368)

        Obviously not. You're still here after all.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @02:14AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @02:14AM (#1213302)

    It's a shame, aristarchus, you used to be a rational person. Now you are just a divisive fuckwit.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @02:31AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @02:31AM (#1213307)

      He has been doing the same song and dance for years. Best to ignore him.

    • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by aristarchus on Monday January 17 2022, @06:20AM (4 children)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Monday January 17 2022, @06:20AM (#1213338) Journal

      But, lo! I am not the one voting for Trump, twice! And admitting it on a public forum! Trump is an ignorant moron, like one of his other admirers here. He cannot, or will not, read. He pronounced the Himalayan nations as "Nipple" and "Button". He recommended the Lysol up the alimentary canal treatement for Covid-19. And Phoenix cannot understand why he should be cancelled for support of such idiocy? Twice? You can only stick it to the libs, or overthrow the Constitution in an insurgency of stupid insurrectionism, so many times before it becomes obvious you are not to be trusted. Right, khallow?

      It is my rationality that causes division from the insanity of Trumps supporters, and you need to decide which side you are on.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @10:54AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @10:54AM (#1213369)

        I'm not in the USA, but when the alternatives were Killary and Sleepy Old Joe, I'd have voted for Trump too.
        And as Phoenix said, killing the TPP was a major weight on the good side of the scales.

        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @12:42PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @12:42PM (#1213376)

          haha the other 'choices' were party no 2.

          always vote 3rd party for the nations sake.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @11:30PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17 2022, @11:30PM (#1213495)

          We get it, trumpers would vote for trump, seems a bit obvious dontcha think? So what great nation do you come from then?

          • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 18 2022, @01:11AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 18 2022, @01:11AM (#1213509)

            You obviously don't "get it". Trump won in 2016 because Hillary was so bad a candidate, not because he was a great one. Four years later you almost did it again by offering a senile old political whore as the candidate.

            When are the Democrats going to put forward a candidate whose main argument is something other than "at least I'm not as bad as the other guy" ?