Everyone Else Is More Right Than I Am

Everyone Else Is More Right Than I Am

The response that Charlie MC posted yesterday about my entry regarding 24 and Boston Legal got my a-thinkin’.  She pointed out that one shouldn’t necessarily believe what is written in newspapers much less what is on a fictional television show–though she admitted that maybe TV shows get it more right more often.

There is certainly tons of evidence of this.  During the initial phases of the Iraq war we were led to believe that there really might be weapons of mass destruction, for instance.  Some have pointed out that perhaps more journalistic integrity would have prevented this perception from spreading.  Though, I will say in the journalist’s defense, people I knew who worked in interpreting spy satellite data did have reason to believe in WMDs.

In my own experience, the myths that are spread by the media usually relate to automobiles–shocker, that.  The media usually has an obvious stance whenever a new proposal is released.  The coverage of California’s current public nuisance lawsuit against automakers for producing carbon dioxide is barely covered, and when it is there seems to be little negative to say about it.  On the other hand, when Virginia and Wisconsin began the introduction of roundabouts the coverage was fairly overwhelmingly negative.

But it’s not just the inclusions that make a difference; it is also what is excluded from the media that influences us.  We only hear about the automobile’s impact when we hear about carbon dioxide causing global warming.  What about those diesel rigs that produce as much carbon dioxide–not to mention a number of genuinely toxic chemicals?  What about the coal power plants that produce the electricity our country needs, and that we won’t replace due to an irrational fear of nuclear power?  What about the factories that, even with scrubbers installed, still produce more CO2 in a day than any car in its entire running life?

If we were to take the media’s approach to vehicles as gospel truth, then what we should believe is that SUVs are directly responsible for global warming, people hate Hummers, we are running out of oil, oil is inefficient, etc.  The perceptions that are spread are rarely close to the truth.  

The good news, in a way, is that this is a common human phenomenon.  Another of my side interests is faster-than-light travel and communication.  There have been some very exciting advances in these fields in recent years, especially with regard to FTL communication.  Split binary pairs of sub-atomic particles exhibit a unique property where both halves react instantaneously to input on one half.

For instance, I could have a subatomic particle here in Chicago.  If I were to split it in half and somehow get the other half to Tanzania, then I would be able to cause an instant change in the spin of my particle’s compatriot by changing the spin of my local particle.  There is apparently no distance limitation on this property–the two split particles always behave as one regardless of how far away they are.

This should be the beginning of a revolution in communications technology.  However, scientists are reluctant to perceive it as such because it supposedly defies the laws of physics.  This doesn’t mean that think this phenomenon is not real–it has been demonstrated repeatedly.  No, they simply seem to believe that split binary pairs can’t be used for FTL communication because FTL communication is just not possible.  They have been told this, therefore they continue to believe this.

My personal thought on the matter is that we have only split one axis of the particle.  Imagine taking a tennis ball and cutting it almost all the way in half, but leaving a small elastic bit connected.  When the halves are placed on a table in just the right way, it is possible for our eyes to interpret these halves as two separate tennis balls.  Unfortunately for us, we are unable to see the connection between these two particles.

Journalists are much like these scientists.  They enter into this world with pre-conceived notions that have been accepted by thousands of other journalists, therefore they just can’t be wrong.  Then, when presented with disparate information they don’t see the connections between these data.  Perhaps the biggest hinderance to revolution is an unwillingness to disagree with someone else.

Although we doubt ourselves fairly frequently, we need to remember that sometimes other folks don’t know what they’re talking about either.