Stop‼️
What you hear over and over ain’t necessarily so.
Now, it is especially important to make judgements based on the facts.
Yes, people are more likely to believe something if it is said over and over again. This is called the illusory truth effect. It is a cognitive bias that causes us to believe something is more likely to be true if we hear it more often.
There are a few reasons why the illusory truth effect occurs. One reason is that repetition makes information easier to process. When we hear something repeatedly, it becomes more familiar to us, and we don’t have to expend as much effort to understand it. This makes it seem more credible.
Another reason for the illusory truth effect is that we tend to associate repetition with authority. We believe that people who repeat something must be confident in its truthfulness. This is especially true if the people repeating the information are experts or people we trust.
The illusory truth effect can be a powerful tool for persuasio. Advertisers and political campaigns often use repetition to convince people to believe their messages. For example, a political campaign might repeat a certain slogan over and over again in order to make it seem more memorable and believable.
It is important to be aware of the illusory truth effect so that we can avoid being persuaded by false information. When we hear something repeated, we should take a moment to evaluate the information critically and consider whether it is actually true.
Here are some tips for avoiding the illusory truth effect:
- Be skeptical of information that is repeated often, especially if it comes from a source that you don’t trust.
- Do your own research to verify the information.
- Consider the source of the information. Is it from a reputable source, or is it from a source that has a vested interest in promoting the information?
- Look for evidence to support or refute the information.
- Be aware of your own biases. We are all more likely to believe information that confirms our existing beliefs.
By following these tips, you can protect yourself from the illusory truth effect and make more informed decisions.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Alternative facts, the other truth
“Red States Have Higher Gun Death Rates Than Blue States. Here’s Why –
Forbes…2023/04/28 › …
True. It’s verifiable data.
“One problem with that: In most of these red states, the high murder rates are driven by the lethal violence in their blue cities.”
Washington Post…October 19, 2022
(Marc A. Thiessen)
Who you gonna believe? *
———————-
My personal truths…
“Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $41.03 per hour worked in June
2023.”
“Total employer compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $58.25 per hour worked in June 2023.”
Those truths are posted prominently on the first page of BLS Employer Cost of Employee Compensation every month. It’s true. It’s data, and you can take it to the bank (figuratively).
Meanwhile, on page 16…
Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers in establishments of 500 workers or more averaged $59.47.
BEWARE THE “TRUTH”, once you find it, your still not done.
*Actually, I believe the second statement has since been unbunked.
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What surprised me in this data is that large private employees also have more paid time off than state and local workers. True, look it up. Another stereotype shot.
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It should be obvious that many of us do not want the “truth”. Why blame the politicians when we don’t want to hear the truth. The truth will most likely separate your politician from their job. Why complain about Medicare/Social Security running on fumes when proposed solutions will bring us pain–nobody wants pain–who would vote for someone who tells us it will be painful to solve the problem. We’ve met the enemy and the enemy is us.
I read the articles on Christie in “Government”–interesting we go back to 2012 to make a point. Nothing later than that? Am I thinking there is some bias going on?
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You are right we do not want the truth. We don’t want to hear we all need to pay higher taxes for what we demand from government. We don’t want to believe how dependent our economy is on immigrants including illegal ones. We don’t want the truth about how the US is dependent upon and integrated with the rest of the world and on and on.
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My friend we don’t have a tax problem we have a spending problem. No doubt you pulled your hair when you heard our great leader tell us student loan obligations would be transferred from the wealthy or those who would be wealthy one day to the kid at McDonald’s. Living in many blue states may mean 50% tax if you add in federal income/ state income/property/sales and I am probably forgetting a few.
Why do you think NY and CA are losing folks? And where do these folks go? Why do they go there?
There is a process for immigration just like the process to be allowed to read and respond to your blog. There is a process for everything. The process is not being followed very well, if at all, as millions flood across the border and there is a reason for that and it’s not because of cheap labor.
“Truth”also means following the law and when you allow folks to loot and steal (2020) you set in motion the idea that there is no “truth” out there.
Who will tell the 45% or so they have to pay some federal income tax? Just mention that and you will be labeled. Remember the rich need to pay their fair share. Well what do they pay now and what is their fair share?
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That’s easy to say and to a large extent that’s true, but keep in mind millions of Americans want that spending – loan forgiveness, tax credits, various ongoing subsidies and more. So, cutting spending is easy to say, not so doing. In addition, once spending on something is in place getting rid of it is not easy. There is no way that reducing spending alone will solve fiscal problems.
We need higher taxes, in part, just to make SS and Medicare sustainable.
Americans need to realize they ALL must pay for what they want and that “government” has no money.
In countries with strong social programs of the type many Americans want, all citizens pay the bill, not just the so called wealthy. To say the wealthy do not pay their fair share is silly.
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You could cut spending for each government agency and program by 1% and make a dent in the deficit–all higher taxes do is slow down the economy–if you raise the price on anything you get less of it–lower the price you get more of it–think of cigarettes’ as as example–SS is a giant ponzi scheme that no insurance company could ever run–Medicare is scheduled to hemorrhage in 6-7 years–
the crazy part is we are now running an economy at just about full employment and the deficit is increasing dramatically–with all the tax revenue coming in we should be paying down debt, but all we do is spend more–the party of government is running the show so of course government grows.
If you had a son/daughter that no matter how much $ you gave them they still spent every penny and increased their credit card debt by large amounts would advocate to your wife that you should continue to give them $?
How much money is enough? I suspect you would never be satisfied with whatever tax revenue came into the government coffers. “Let’s now have Medicare pay for long-term care.” “Let’s lower the age for Medicare.” The big spenders are never mollified.
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Gotta say, I agree with Richard. We need higher taxes. We can afford it. Pay our debts. It’s the right thing to do.
“Who will tell the 45% or so they have to pay some federal income tax?”
Not happening. Almost half of them are already net tax recipients. As it should be.
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Right, higher taxes will be used to pay our debts–never happen–maybe stop spending so much–the more money the government receives the more they spend–buying votes is what they do like wiping out a certain amount of student debt which means it’s transferred to others.
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If we work very hard, and we’re lucky, we can re-elect Joe and he can pull us out of this mess.
“Reagan took the deficit from $70 billion to $175 billion. Bush 41 took it to $300 billion. Clinton got it to zero. Bush 43 took it from zero to $1.2 trillion. Obama halved it to $600 billion. Trump’s got it back to a trillion.”
On this articles subject of “truth”, Politifact cautions that deficits are only one factor of a strong economy, and that Presidents have only limited influence on them.
Still…
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