The Danger of Pseudo-Skepticism
In this era of lies and misinformation from seemingly every direction, it has never been more important to be skeptical and to fact-check. Not doing so leads to conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and divisiveness. This issue is both compounded and partially solved by the Internet, which, while it is often a breeding ground for misinformation, is also an excellent source for fact-checking. Skepticism has become an increasingly needed skill, as people well know. Everyone thinks that someone is lying to them; some think that everyone is. In any case, everyone understands the importance of investigating for yourself and finding the truth.
The issue is that, while everyone knows that skepticism is important, many don’t know how to use it properly. Skepticism is a skill after all, and just like any other skill, it requires training and practice. Often, people will do a single Google search, find an article that agrees with them, and conclude that they were right all along. This may be worse than doing no research at all, for they now believe that they’ve done their due diligence and that the facts are on their side. By the way, before you get on a high horse and look down on the common folk, seriously consider whether you have done this before. I know I have, and afterwards I felt all justified and scientific. It is a very easy mistake to make.
The main pitfall that causes this issue is how people think about skepticism. Many self-proclaimed skeptics only employ their skepticism when presented with a new or opposing idea. This is a good start, but is almost worthless if skepticism is not also applied to the ideas and opinions that you take for granted. This is essential, as without it, the comparison is unfair and almost guaranteed to result in the conclusion you already had. Also, the skepticism must be applied to the same degree for both sides. If you are scathingly critical of the opposition but only slightly nit-picky about your side, you are being illogical and disingenuous, and you will likely reach the wrong conclusion.
For example, let’s say you’ve always hated milk. You’ve tried it a couple times and you just do not like it. But one day your friend convinces you to give it another try. Much to your surprise, you really enjoy it. Turns out, you were drinking cheap skim milk before and, now that you’ve tried high-quality whole milk, you realize that you just didn’t like that type of milk. At this point, it would be foolish and stubborn to continue not drinking milk and saying that you hate it. Now that you’ve learned that you actually do like milk, all you’re doing by not changing your mind is depriving yourself and being illogical. This may seem like a ridiculous example, but this same attitude and practice is constantly applied to many other areas of life, most more important than milk.
Your opinions should be nothing more than things you carry around with you, exchanged whenever a better one comes along. They should never define you, nor should your connection to them prevent you from changing your mind. The fact that you have ‘always believed’ something has no bearing on its truth or reality, and should never be used as an excuse for stubbornness or illogic.
Pseudo-skepticism and stubbornness is a large factor in partisan fracturing and the proliferation of conspiracy theories, as it reinforces already-held beliefs and fights logic. Encouraging legitimate skepticism in yourself and others while fighting inconsistent logic and misinformation is one of the best things you can do for yourself and the world. Without logic, we have nothing more than guesswork and luck.