The share of Republicans who believe President Joe Biden didn’t legitimately win the 2020 election and there’s “solid evidence” to prove it has plunged over the past two years, a new CNN/SSRS poll finds, suggesting Republicans are increasingly realizing there’s no solid proof of the election fraud claims pushed by the far right—but still aren’t changing their minds about the election being “stolen.” Continue here....
-- Alison Durkee, Forbes
Here's the thing about belief — sometimes things aren't always as they appear. For example, what people believe is not always as related to truth as they believe it is. I probably believe lots of things that aren't true. Not intentionally of course, but I have to recognize and understand that what I believe is a function of a variety of things; often internal and external forces are involved. My recognition of these forces is the issue and this is often contingent on whether I want to or not.
One thing could be helpful in here — a real commitment to understanding. Real understanding; not just the borrowed kind, the kind that I don't really think about or engage. And, in this case, understanding needs to include the realities of a recipe with ingredients like fear, truth, when it is mixed with power. The forces involved here are actually much more deeply rooted than it appears. History has cultivated this mixture for decades. Like a pariah, once it's in full bloom, it's really hard to dispose of. We get addicted to it without even realizing it.
Belief has a number of psychological features baked into it. Not all of them are inherently bad. But, they can be. We believe what we believe, primarily, because we want to. It satisfies something we think we need. Perhaps this is part of why it is possible to actually believe lies, which should be the epitome of something not to believe (because they're not true). But, in every lie there is a kernel of truth; distorted, but it is there. And, we can cling to the possibility (if we feel we need to...this is where fear is involved) that even the smallest part of the lie could still have some truth in it.
When we are afraid (a whole other discussion, especially in this instance), we gravitate to the idea of truth (I say 'idea' because, as crazy as it is, what is actually true starts to not even matter). And, we glam on to truth because of the power we perceive it provides. There's your recipe. The diet is something then, not unlike many of our big-food systems, that we get addicted to and we eat more and more of it until we actually are no longer living in reality based on truth and understanding at all. We will actually believe lies — not even because of the content, but because of their perceived agency.
The master manipulators of such things know exactly what they're doing, what they're using. They often don't even believe the ideology itself, but use it anyway to keep (or get) what they really want — power.
The irony is that belief can too often be a deferral of power — letting someone else determine what I believe for me. An often subtle, but significant (and dangerous) shift.
As I recently queried, we all live in a context, both of belief and understanding. We can't escape it. It's all we know and how we know.
But, we also have the opportunity for some wisdom...even about what we believe and why.
