Doing your own research is a good way to end up being wrong

The Washington Post ^ | January 17, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. EST | Philip Bump

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The internet has been a huge boon for the accessibility of information. There are very few barriers to consuming classic literature or detailed scientific analyses or catalogues of news reports. There is also an exorbitant amount of garbage information, of course, and an entire universe of people who say stuff that they think will get people to click links that will earn themselves money.

Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter. While confidence in American institutions has been in decline for some time, it’s not hard to imagine how the economic incentives of the internet contribute. There is an outsize appetite for derogatory, counterintuitive or anti-institutional assessments of the world around us. This is in part because alleged scandals are interesting and in part because Americans like to view themselves as independent analysts of the world around us.

The result is that there is both a supply and a demand for nonsense or appealingly framed errors. Americans who have little trust in the system can easily find something to reinforce their skepticism. They often do.

Sign up for How To Read This Chart, a weekly data newsletter from Philip Bump

This month, Nieman Lab’s Josh Benton reported on research released last year that showed how people “doing their own research” on the internet often led them to gain more confidence in untrue information. The paper, titled “Online searches to evaluate misinformation can increase its perceived veracity,” was written by researchers from the University of Central Florida, New York University and Stanford. Their conclusions were straightforward.

“Although conventional wisdom suggests that searching online when evaluating misinformation would reduce belief in it, there is little empirical evidence to evaluate this claim,” the authors wrote. Instead, they continued: “We present consistent evidence that online search to evaluate the...”

[hopespringseternal]

There was a time when people believed these POSes without question. Then everyone discovered the so called journalists were even worse liars than the politicians.

Now they are indignantly protesting continually that they are not lying. When you reach that point your credibility can never be recovered.

[Elsie]

Getting the first page of ANY search engines output is a sure way to be subtly led down the garden path.

[Elsie]

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/BU4AAOSwgMNgACPF/s-l960.jpg

[Harpotoo]

I read the headline and then saw the source and then spit coffee all over myself;-)

[mewzilla]

I wonder what Mr. Bump was doing for a living between 2002 and 2012.

Just curious.

[FLT-bird]

LOL! Of course WAPO doesn’t like it when you do your own research rather than swallowing their narrative hook, line and sinker.

[Sirius Lee]

Didn’t take long for the WEF/deep state to issue its “disinformation” memo to the mockingbirds, did it?

[Sirius Lee]

sometimes that’s useful information because it tells you how the other side is framing a discussion or concept.

That's why I read The Economist and Foreign Affairs. It tells me what the enemy is thinking and which lies, either outright, or by omission, I need to pay attention to in order to seek out the complete facts and counterarguments.

[mewzilla]

Meanwhile, for an idea of what Mr. Bump abd his fellow Deep Staters are really worried about ...

It takes a BRIT black to take offense to Mess-NBC's Rachel Mancow "reviewing" and censoring Trump's speech. No wonder the Regime Media is longing for the days of conservative-censored Twitter.

The expression on this lady's face while she's listening to Maddow...

[sauropod]

Philip Bump admonishing people NOT to do their own research.

HEHEHE *gasp* *wheeze* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!

What a Bumpkin.

[Seruzawa]

These traitors probably actually believe this drivel. I’ve known enough reporters to know that they are the least educated among us. The idea that they could be gatekeepers is beyond hilarious

[Albion Wilde]

Sour grapes.

[gitmo]

So far, the conspiracy theories are batting 1,000. At least.

[Fuzz]

At least?

Math can be hard.

[VideoDoctor]

The Post's alternate name is "The BULL$HIT MACHINE!"

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Doing your own research is a good way to end up being wrong

I remember the term "wrongthink" in Orwell. The State tells us what is "wrong."

[StAnDeliver]

"Philip Bump is one of the biggest clowns of disinformation at the WhiteWashingHamas Post."

He is like the overinflated clown toy that you squeeze his head in and it eventually pops back out.

Here is, in fact, Bump's WaPo website pic:

[StAnDeliver]

There is good news, Bump has been reduced in stature by WaPo for the last 2 years after morphing into Hunter Biden's white knight; to just sniping at those who took apart his sophistry; to now writing articles about obscure internet usage studies.

The guy is a total chump, he won't let go of the null set, wherein the Biden's are completely honest in Phil's bizarro world, while bad orange Trump lives in his head rent-free.