Eva Week 2- What to Believe

     I have recently been thinking a lot about information being lost through communication and how factual others are at conveying previous situations. 

     I started to notice this with my dad. Whenever I’m around him and he talks about a situation I was involved in, I find all of his information to be really inaccurate to what I thought happened. I have always felt this way about him and I didn’t mind it too much. But a while ago, I started to think about all of the information he tells me about others, and I questioned whether that information was factual or just an exaggerated or unperceptive version of what occurred. Then I started to think about all the second-hand information I get from others and how accurate it really is. Confusing thoughts.

     I find that generally, humans will listen to those they trust and care about. It's one thing to be suspicious about a stranger's information but it's another thing to be suspicious of your closest friends and family, especially when they are not trying to deceive you. And that's what makes this thought scary to me: what if we are being deceived most by the people we are closest to and neither side realizes they are a part of a larger plot of misinformation? In this case, we aren't just naive and stupid when it comes to false beliefs we have about others and situations, there is just no way of knowing if any information we have from others is true. In that case, how can I trust anyone that tells me any information?

     Then there’s news and media. Everyone knows the media is lying to you and yet we need to believe something. Is it better to believe people who aren’t telling the truth or live in fear your whole life about how others are lying to you and giving you misinformation? Ignorance is bliss.