Some people just insist and want to believe a certain way. They like to think this way all based on emotion and the principle of "fair." They don't really think with their mind. They think with their heart and/or with their preordained ideals. They then don't understand when you talk logic and they don't want to listen to the truth. They just continue to buy in to misinformation and the bias that has been beat into their soul by some professor or media outlet.
Conservatives get accused by these types of people as being followers. The truth is actually the opposite. The Democratic Liberal base stays home far more than even the "ultra conservative" base of the Republicans. Some recent elections prove that to be a fact. Specifically the election of Bill Clinton on both occasions was because the conservatives were willing to not vote party line when they didn't agree with the candidate. Conservatives would have abandoned McCain were it not for Palin. (Palin is a "Reagan Republican after all.)
I say all that to lead into a recent facebook post I want to talk about. A friend of mine who tends to follow the left thinking posted this article "Voters Say Election Full of Misleading and False Information" so he could rag Fox News. Well, of course, I challenged the article right away. Since I've read and studied the mother website of this article (World Public Opinion) and recognized right away that it was a left leaning website I quickly pointed out the fact that it was probably left wing misinformation. His challenge back was, of course, there wasn't any left wing misinformation in the article (in so many words.)
I did a little more research just to make sure my contention was correct. I found one of the sponsors of the website was Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Well anyone that follows politics even a little bit knows Ben and Jerry's owners are notorious left wing nuts. Most of the other contributors are left leaning as well but B&J was enough for me to confirm my suspicion. My friend was having none of it. He needed something to prove Fox News was to be damned. He found it in this article.
We went back and forth for a day or two and we eventually even got on into a discussion about Obama's birth certificate. I'm not a "birther" or even a conspiracy theorist in general (other than there is no way Oswald did Kennedy and I have hundreds of hours studying the research into the Kennedy assassination.) Funny side thought for me: This friend is also a professed criminologist and I'm sure still subscribes to the lefts contention that it was Oswald although much of the right will claim the same.
Well as the last couple of weeks has rolled on I have come to find out my contentions were far more accurate than his eternal hunt to find reasons to hate Fox News. Not only was the WPO article clearly biased by association but further research into their poll sample is dubious at best and in some ways was probably pure manipulation. This article: Fox News Makes You Stupid? explains it better than I can explain here. However, for those of you who don't want to read the article, Brent Bozell does a good job pointing out the flaws of the survey. The survey is also dubious in the fact that the "Main Stream Media" didn't pick up on the article. Even the main steam media recognizes when the flaws are glaring. Anytime the players in the broadcast media pass on an attempt to make Fox News look bad, you know there was a problem with the research.
Finally my friend didn't want to believe that Obama has spent over 1M on protecting his birth certificate, which I really wasn't making an issue of it myself but the article he posted used the "birther" movement as evidence that Fox News viewers were "stupid." In fact he claimed Obama has "NOT spent a million dollars to defend against......" lawsuits. Well, in fact, the total is now up to 1.7 million dollars to a foreign law firm "Perkins Coie." This law firm has handled a couple of minor issues for Obama but their main focus has been the challenges to his birth certificate. The money paid is well documented. You can find some of that data here: Obama has spent 1.7 million to defend Birth Certificate
I just don't understand it. A friend that always claims to knowledgeable and in search of the truth but if it's his guy, the truth doesn't matter.
Don't misunderstand by the way. This is no way an attack on my friend. It is however an example of how some people will run from the truth in the name of a political agenda. While I will admit conservatives are guilty of hanging on to a bad agenda, Liberals holding onto their agenda against the truth is far more aggressive, far more damaging and far more intellectually bankrupt.
