𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐨 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡

I find it astounding that some people need no proof whatsoever to believe a lie, yet demand endless proof before they’ll accept the truth.

Not everyone thinks this way, of course. But far too many seem to.

Perhaps the problem is that we’re no longer simply asking whether something is true. We’re asking whether it fits with what we already believe, what we want to believe, or sometimes who we want to believe.

If a claim confirms our existing view, evidence can become almost irrelevant. We hear it, it sounds right to us, so we accept it. But present evidence that challenges that view and suddenly nothing seems sufficient. Another source is demanded. Then another explanation. Another piece of proof.

And even then, the goalposts can simply move again.

There is actually a name for part of this — the illusory truth effect.

I wrote about this back in August last year, and how propaganda can exploit illusory truth to change Western democracies for the worse.

It’s the simple fact that the more we hear something repeated, the more likely we are to believe it is true, regardless of whether there is any evidence to support it.

Social media didn’t create that human tendency. But it has given it one hell of a megaphone.

A lie, a half-truth or a carefully selected piece of information can be repeated so often, and by so many like-minded people, that familiarity begins to masquerade as fact.

And I find that extremely concerning. Particularly when it is deliberately used in politics to destroy someone’s reputation, because once the lie takes hold, the truth can spend forever trying to catch up.

When we reach the point where what we want to be true matters more than what is true, we haven’t simply stopped questioning information.

We’ve stopped questioning ourselves.