What do you think of this attitude? How irrational is this? Why do people do it?

Question

When you provide someone with internet links, encyclopedia articles, and solid facts that support a certain political, social or philosophical statement, and the other person chooses instead to qualify your arguments as "left wing lies", "propaganda", or "biased", without actually refuting your claims or showing evidence to the contrary, are they being close-minded?
Consider that I usually back up my statements with reliable, neutral encyclopedias (like wikipedia), or from scientific websites or at least websites from different parts of the ideological spectrum.
Why are there still some people that choose to ignore facts?
What is it that causes people to methaphorically "cover their ears", and ignore solid facts and scientific data such as evolution, global warming, Disney child labour in Haiti, US support torwards dictatorships and terrorist groups such as the Nicaraguan "Contras", shady and corrupt bussiness associations in several countries' leaderships, etcetera?

What causes people to reject the possibility of embracing other ideas and thought patterns?
I'm always willing to listen and accept opposing views, as long as they are properly fundamented.
Why aren't others willing to do this as well?

I think that if you are planning to have a serious political or social opinion and to act upon it, you need to know how to fundament it and back it up first.

Answer 1

I have had that happen to me before, and it infuriated me that the other person would only come back at me with "You don't know what you're talking about." I think it's not so much that the person is close-minded, but that they refuse to look at another interpretation or view of a certain situation. Especially when it comes to politics. Chalk it up to you're smart to do research on a subject before taking a side, and they're too stubborn to realize that they may actually be wrong about something.

Answer 2

Can we really trust what people have researched? I bet you don't trust people who have researched the bible. The bible was just another thing written by people that could have made mistakes in their calculations and I'm willing to bet you don't trust it. What makes you trust this current day research any more than something that could be true from long ago? Global warming is a theory and not all scientists agree with the research findings. Global warming may be a fact but I think it is corrupt of the liberal media to manipulate the masses by presenting evidence as fact when there are intelligent people who don't agree. I don't trust anything said in the news anymore because it is on their agenda to only show one side of an issue. To me that suggests an ulterior motive to manipulate and sway us to one side and that is very suspicious to me. By trusting these sources you are letting the sources do the thinking for you. People who refute the evidence you found are people that think for themselves.

Answer 3

Such a long question...

The answer is so simple, I'm surprised you had to ask.

M E D I A.

Fox and CNN are now fact to most of the people you refer to. No thought necessary. Surely the news must be accurate, right? I have given up all hope on the people you speak about. Their eyes will never be opened...

Answer 4

i do not imagine u r being irrational. U may be top in wondering that the babysitter has gotten herself over her head by technique of watching too many toddlers. Do u be conscious the court circumstances that the sitter has stated that your daughter does @ living house? If she's a qualified sitter, she should understand that toddlers do not stay toddlers for lengthy. They bypass through teething, if the sitter doesn't placed your daughter down for naps, that ought to reason irritability, there is such distinctive issues. After a not basic day of work, it is the perfect ingredient u pick to hearken to is a 10 minute list of what ur toddler did incorrect. i'd change sitter's.

Answer 5

Some people when stating an opinion they assume to be correct, will not listen to reason or fact (even when backed up by solid evidence). They are dogmatic in their views and cannot be changed. More's the pity, but keep on stating your views and hopefully, maybe some of them will get through. Good dialogue on all issues is of benefit to us all.

Answer 6

Some people just don't want to accept that they could be wrong, or supporting the guy who is wrong.

I would be more concerned that our government isn't listening rather than some close-minded internet surfing dim-wit.

Kudos for research and well written, coherent, consise thought.

Answer 7

most people like that are too stubborn to change their mind, especially if they had just offered a forceful and heated argument against yours, before being proven wrong. they'd hate to be proven wrong in any legit means,so they try and discredit your position by attaking the facts. they follow in the footsteps of others with their ideas (it's weird, but usually people like this are the wrong ones, irrefutably, blatantly and immensely WRONG..shows how much intelligence the peope like this have..) that's my idea. and YES, i hate it, but when it comes to that point I usually concede defeat. so what if they think they're right, does it change the FACT that they aren't?

Answer 8

I have a friend who calls that F.U.N. (Fully Understanding Nothing). She says that most people's minds are already made up and they don't like to be confused with the facts. I tend to agree, but I also usually don't bother trying to convince people of things.

Answer 9

Rhis sort of attack only happens when the person who disagrees with you knows he or she cant win with a legitimate argument, so they try to distract you from the argument. They do this by being insulting, by trying to upset you so you lose your momentum.

The more you remain unaffected by these types of people, the more enraged they become. Eventually they blow a blood vessel in the brain and you dont have to deal with them anymore.

"The best revenge against your enemies is to outlive them."

Answer 10

well whether or not you are getting your information from Internet links etc. people are still entitled to their own opinion, you seem like a well educated person so don't you think if everyone agreed with what you write, whether it be right or wrong, things would get very boring