darkSpyro

are you a victim

the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility.

Everyone is a victim of groupthink. It's the nature of the internet

i think its far too prevalent and people should do their own research and stuff to form their own opinions rather than mindlessly following friends, celebrities, or corporation but thats apparently too hard to do as a culture so its alright i guess

id also like to clarify i dont mean people like susan, stay at home christian mother of 7 looking at different anti-vax pinterests and deciding which one is better, i mean people doing actual research to get both sides of whats going on before formulating their opinion

Quote: Vespi

i think its far too prevalent and people should do their own research and stuff to form their own opinions rather than mindlessly following friends, celebrities, or corporation but thats apparently too hard to do as a culture so its alright i guess

id also like to clarify i dont mean people like susan, stay at home christian mother of 7 looking at different anti-vax pinterests and deciding which one is better, i mean people doing actual research to get both sides of whats going on before formulating their opinion

see the thing is that's easier said than done. its very easy to believe in a common belief even if you're not a middle aged mom on facebook. for example look at the kimba vs lion king video yourmoviesucks made recently. notice how in the comments people are repeating what yms about how lion king isn't a rip off of kimba. of course li on king isn't a rip off but one of the themes of the video was "do your own research, don't listen to a video on youtube". quite ironic how yms said this about all those people stating that kimba was plagiarized and brainwashing people into believing that when he himself did that with this one video. i doubt that at most 1% of people watched the entirety of kimba to make their own assumptions. people are lazy. they hear something and just repeat it.

also researching nowadays in the age of technology is quite biased aswell. most people think research means "google something, read link, ????, i have proof". thing is google actually records what has been searched up and has an algorithm that best suits your needs. for example, lets say i really like the bodybuilding forum. every time i look up a topic i put in "bodybuilding forum" in the search to make sure i get results from that site because i really enjoy reading the posts there. now the phrase"bodybuilding forum" is a constant in my search history so whenever i look up something but this time i dont include "bodybuilding forum" in the search, the site is still very likely to pop up in one of the results.

however this applies to more than just frequent sites. this can also be used to show links and titles that reflect that iondivuals own personal beliefs. if youre a republican youre more likely to get good news about trump, democratic you get more bad news about trump, etc. this is how all those facebook karens get their misinformation from using google to research topics. however this is more than just the karens of the world. this affects you too. heres an article i googled about the subject. https://www.theguardian.com/te...ical-propaganda

everybody in the world thinks that they are at least average or above average. everybody tells themself that "they're different" and this belief can be a reason why they fall into a hivemind like mentality. nobody wants to be an npc that we all read about in dystopian novels in high school yet we all are. people are more likely to trust and believe those who they can relate to. the louder the belief the more followers it has. there's a huge reason why that #blackouttuesday thing on Instagram was such a huge success. in reality, nobody actually did anything to spread awareness or help with this trend, but they all felt like they had a part in a cause and without them, the world is one step closer to being better. this instant gratification of showing help and kindness is a reminder to that person of "yes I'm awesome, i did something great".

you mention how Karens talk about anti vaxing kids is bad but have you actually done the research yourself? or did you just cherry pick sources from youtube videos and websites that reflected your opinion the most? you're doing exactly what karen on facebook is doing. (I'm not saying vaccines give autism btw.)

once people realize a pattern with other beliefs they feel empowered with pride and knowledge. ever think to yourself "this trend is dumb everyone is blindly following it"? if yes then you are also more likely to believe that you are different from everyone else. when in reality, there's plenty of people who think exactly like you. but your confirmation bias is telling you that you are in fact very unique. this whole thing about everyone being different is taught at a young age with stories about people being punished for being "normal" and "boring". in elementary school i was read a lot of books about how being yourself was better than being someone else. we are told growing up that we are different. nobody can be me. this is why people who are part of groupthinking arent aware of them being in one. they all think that they are unique.

you said something about blindly following people but everybody does this even those who are aware of it. have you ever been behind a political candidate because you believe in their cause? however, did you actually listen to what they want to do for the country or just a soundbite of something you wanted to hear? is that not the same thing as blindly following? did you follow the latest meme about keanu reeves being awesome? can you also name movies with him that arent the matrix or john wick? isnt this also just blindly following? look back on your political views, ever just straight up told someone that you were wrong? i know i have for sure. so what do you do? you go on google, type up "why am i right" and click the first link. does that link tell you what you need? no? alright next link. does this link say what i said? no? alright next link. then when you finally have a link after a few clicks of cherry picking your opinion is set in stone. you are now thinking like millions of others by blindly following an article that you trust because of your confrimation bias. congrats.

I'm not a big supporter of censorship tbh. i want stuff to be stored and remember. that's why i find it annoying when posts or topics are deleted. all forms of censorship originate from groupthinking. censorship is a common theme learned in life but really it is everywhere and nothing will stop it because its impossible to be neutral, ironically being neutral is more unique than being different.

tl;Dr: you're not unique or special because you do research on google. your confirmation bias tell you that you are right because another person said it so it must be true.

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Quote: FedUpWolf

i have to say that sometimes by googling things ive found different opinions to mine that led to me changing my opinion. however i will admit to reading material without thinking and/or reinforcing an assumption. its not good but i think even without the internet people are biased and its just human nature. we should learn to better thinkers but at the end of the day we are always going to have opinions.

Very true. Humans by nature are emotional creatures. Not everything is fact but we think our knowledge is. Bias can never disappear but that doesn't mean bias is a bad thing. Without bias there wouldn't be revolutions, stories, communication, etc. Without bias science would have never improved beyond people poking sticks at rocks. Bias is a part of thinking. But bias can also lead to less thinking.
The news also a huge factor in affectng beliefs as well. The way they potrays accidents, the wording used, the stories focused, it all affecting the way we think critically.
I also just find it annoying how you can say a belief and be belittled by it. Lots of things I want to say but don't because of the fear of backlash
People just live in a little bubble shared with others who think the same. It's very hard to change an opinion. It's almost impossible even. That's why conflict exists. As long as two sides exists one will try to better the other.
People don't like to think. We just pretend we do

i appreciate how deep and insightful the posts in this topic actually were huh :-)

Hello Everyone!

It's Me, Geneisus Wolf! I'd Like To Say That The Power Of Our Lord And Savior Gives Us The Ability To Be As Creative As We Want To Be. The Lord Wants Us To Be Creative. We Were Made In His Image And Therefore Have The Ability To Create Amazing Things Like Bible Study Groups.

As Man, We Are Responsible For All Of The Animals Of This World. We Are Responsible For Spreading The Good Word And Bringing Everyone To The Truth.

Good Furry Christians Like You And I Are Not Victims Of GroupThink. If You Want To Escape GroupThink, You Should Read The Bible.

AMEN