On Wed, Apr 25, 2007 at 01:58:55PM -0600, Chad Perrin wrote: > I definitely agree that's suboptimal. I'd expand that to include other > sorts of pages, other than webpages, as well. It's pretty rare for this > particular brand of intellectually lazy person to realize that about the > printed page, though.
I recall reading some interesting comments from studies (second hand, e.g., in Science News) which stated that people tended to believe things that were presented in a credible fashion, not questioning them - using the paper or page as an authority which amplified their own general beliefs on a topic. Aside from the circular referencing that occurs when believing that... It's certainly hard to see where/how to decide to stop and question the authority, given that premise (knowing that one is biased). But it's perhaps a good habit to get into - observing that reading things that one already agrees with are perhaps as problematic as those that one does not. -- Thomas E. Dickey http://invisible-island.net ftp://invisible-island.net
pgp841KNhNsK7.pgp
Description: PGP signature
