Okay, first head off to see this video clip from Current TV. It's funny, snide, and quick. Oh, and in the intro, see if you can catch what is on the Office Assistant panel that pops up on the CRT.
Alright, you're back? Good. Now, that the clip really shows off the two Amerikas isn't so suprising or shocking. It just is what it is. What slays me is when Sherri Shepard is asked what she will tell her child when asked if the world is flat. ~"That will mean a trip to the library,"~ she says.
Let's just think about that for a minute; the assumption that very smart people have put the knowledge she might need in books, that's automatic, she doesn't have to think about that. When you need to know something, the information is there. But at the same time, she's quite willing to reject out of hand anything she reads in a book (written by those very smart people who have put the knowledge into the book just for her). The facts may contradict recieved knowledge. Knowledge may contradict superstition. But comfort is more important than reality.
Cognitive dissonace, my friends. Cognitive dissonance.
Alright, you're back? Good. Now, that the clip really shows off the two Amerikas isn't so suprising or shocking. It just is what it is. What slays me is when Sherri Shepard is asked what she will tell her child when asked if the world is flat. ~"That will mean a trip to the library,"~ she says.
Let's just think about that for a minute; the assumption that very smart people have put the knowledge she might need in books, that's automatic, she doesn't have to think about that. When you need to know something, the information is there. But at the same time, she's quite willing to reject out of hand anything she reads in a book (written by those very smart people who have put the knowledge into the book just for her). The facts may contradict recieved knowledge. Knowledge may contradict superstition. But comfort is more important than reality.
Cognitive dissonace, my friends. Cognitive dissonance.
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment