The End of the World
Jared Keane
July 6 2023
As with most cases studied in this class, belief in things that are proven to be false or superstitious relies on one's own needs.
For example, one of the reasons cults can be successful is die to their ability to pray on the weaknesses of their members. People are more likely to believe in something ridiculous (like world-ending prophecy) if they are vulnerable and don't have anywhere else to go.
Perhaps doomsday and flat-earth believers actually are just lonely people who are desperate to stand out and have access to secret information that others don't; to fit in where they can't.
In fact, people's own bias or emotional vulnerability plays a large role in many topic in this class from UFO's to doomsday cults to putting your faith in a psychic detective. Perhaps many of these topics wouldn't be so prevalent if people were more skeptical and weren't easy targets to superstition.
Posts
I found your post super interesting! I have never thought about the fact that emotionally vulnerability can play a big role in what we believe. I agree that they may not be as prevalent if people were more skeptical about things, that is where critical thinking comes in! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Jared
ReplyDeleteI completely agreed with your post that most of the things that seem unbelievable or out of the ordinary gain attention because certain types of people tend to “want” or “need” to believe it. For much of this course, I found myself scratching my head thinking, “how was this believed?”. Everything from UFOs to psychic abilities, to the Jersey Devil, is something that I am skeptical about. If a person has fears, wants, or a lack of stability, it seems they are more eager to believe in something that is not rooted in fact. While these subjects are interesting to listen to, my instincts tell me to just keep it as colorful stories, and nothing more.
Tyler
Jared, this is very interesting post. I have to say that I agree with your idea of people believing what they want can sometimes mean they are lacking something within themselves. While the myths and legends are interesting, I am more of a fact based person.
ReplyDelete