'Smart People Are Falling for Stupid Lies'
Sometimes the smarter the people, the more lies willingly believed
It seems impossible that intelligent people would so easily fall for outrageous lies or even the smaller yet still dangerous ones. The cold, discouraging and often disturbing reality is it happens and it’s not rare.
The quote in the headline — “Smart people are falling for stupid lies” — was found in recent article and it not only goesfor the story that was being reported on but also interactions of different types: business, workplaces, courts, government and politics, consumer interactions, personal relationships, with strangers, etc.
As a matter of fact, somewhere, it’s happening right this moment. And just happened somewhere else. And will happen in the next moment as well.
Smart people — duped — usually by people less intelligent than them buy into some cleverly manufactured story appealing to emotions and bias but also, more than occasionally and more than you might think, because they prefer to be fooled.
Yes, I said it. Yes, it’s a bold claim and an accurate one.
Malcolm Muggeridge, the late English journalist and satirist, communicated it long before me although I just learned a moment ago of his statement.
“People do not believe lies because they have to, but because they want to.”
Why does this occur? It’s beneficial sometimes for believers of lies or “stupid lies” to emotionally, psychologically or professionally turn away from facts, evidence, proof and truth.
I can’t imagine anyone truly wants to play the deceived person or, respectfully communicated, the fool, yet for some, it’s less painful to do so emotionally, psychologically and maybe professionally, than face the facts about what is “real.”
Points to make: 1) We can choose to not be duped so easily if we really care enough about facts and are willing to set aside the emotions that lead to untested assumptions and faulty conclusions. 2) We can choose to commit to being humble, curious and dedicated to facts and how they legitimately connect to truth or 3) We can choose to brush aside curiosity, humility, facts and truth because we just don’t care about lies succeeding.
Michael Toebe writes “Reputation Notes” and is the founder and specialist at Reputation Quality, a practice that serves and assists successful people and organizations in further building reputation as an asset and responsibly, ethically protecting, restoring or reconstructing it.
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