I’m quite happy tonight to share here that The Roanoke Star printed my latest letter to the editor — about the overreliance on “open-mindedness” in validating popular conspiracy theories. You can find it right here.
Thanks once again to Publisher Stuart Revercomb for allowing me to share my opinion through this first-rate resource for news and commentary in Roanoke, Virginia!
DC Comics.
Yes, it is good to be open-minded. But being open-minded doesn’t automatically confer veracity onto the claim you are examining. And that’s useful to remember in an age in which we’re confronted with seemingly endless conspiracy theories – about elections, vaccines, the media … and even cell phone towers, fluoride toothpaste or space aliens.
Here’s an example. Suppose we are watching a video online that says space aliens have infiltrated NASA.
You are (admirably) an open-minded person if you are willing to consider the point of view being presented. Good on you.
But that doesn’t mean the conclusions presented are real or true. (They do not become factual simply because of your state of mind.)
It doesn’t even mean that they are more likely to be true. (They should not be considered more plausible because of your open-mindedness alone.)
We should EVALUATE claims and beliefs to determine whether they should be taken as true. If this isn’t easy to do conclusively, then we should evaluate the LIKELIHOOD that they are true. (And a guy like me would suggest that we try to use the best available evidence to determine that.)
Open-mindedness alone isn’t the decisive mental talent that you think it is, people. It definitely shouldn’t lead us to believe that aliens have invaded NASA, without a lot more rigorous investigation and thought. Chill with it.
I indeed took a typing class at Longwood High School in New York, circa … 1989 or so. We used actual typewriters, as though they weren’t doomed to be obsolete soon after.
Typing was supposed to be a class that the shrewd kids took. It had a reputation for being boring — but you’d supposedly thank yourself later, because you’d be leagues ahead of your peers either at college or in the workplace.
Oh, God, it was boring. You never typed out anything interesting like a story about monsters or an Edgar Allan Poe poem. It was always some inane, saccharine letter about children enjoying a summer camp. That was one of the most excruciatingly tedious things my mind had ever encountered — made even more so by the fact that I had to navigate it at a snail’s pace. (Even by the end of this class, I remained a terrible typist. But you guys know that already know that … youve sene my various typpos right her at this blog, right?)
I can’t believe I still remember that damn summer camp letter. It’s funny how the mind works. I guess that letter will haunt me until the end of my days. Stupid kids and their stupid fictional laughter.
(Via the Do You Remember When Facebook page.)
Oil on panel.
I AM A SUPERVILLAIN.
I do realize that I’ve been posting a lot of work lately by French symbolist Odilon Redon. Just let me know if starts getting Redondant.
I thought these were pretty neat. Maybe I’m just a dork, though.
Thanks, science.
Lithograph.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 