Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

It's definitely a tendency of people giving sources too much credibility without even doing the minimal amount of research. Me personally, I'm a natural skeptic (and probably almost to the degree of cynicism) so my first instinct any time I get new information is to check up on it. But maybe less skeptical people have more of a tendency to just latch on to whatever fits in their belief system and makes them feel good.

A big example of this, to me, is my own dad. He's one of the most intelligent people I know, but he's the furthest thing from a skeptic. Apart from his religious background, he recently got swept up into that whole Planet X/Nibiru conspiracy thing that should have been discarded the first time it was disproved, but because of "2012", people are taking old conspiracies and fitting them into the whole 2012 thing and reviving it. Well, he saw a video on Youtube, of all places, and it was logical-sounding enough to almost convince him to sell his house and buy an RV to live in, so he could escape 2012 flooding...
Granted, he is aging, at a ripe 64 years old, but he's still got his wit about him, and I can't really flank him logically when he's in his territory. But I think it's a combination of him being naturally accepting of things that make sense to his own mind, and technology he's not really fully aware of the repercussions of... I had to make him understand that absolutely anyone can upload a video to Youtube, and I offered him some simple debunking resources just to get at least 2 sides of the story into his mind.

I think with younger people who are used to the technology and communication abilities we have on the internet, we're a little more wary of hoaxes and fraud. I think with the older generation that doesn't utilize this medium as much, it's a lot harder for them to qualify the legitimacy of a source. I still have to explain to my dad how to google search things without following all kinds of sponsored links and downloading toolbars and random crap...

But, in my cousin's case, she's younger than I am. Her only excuse is being a victim of this health movement that, in itself, is not a bad thing... but she absolutely does not research both sides on purpose. She's too closed-minded. She just accepts whatever sides with the particular mode of thought, without even questioning the validity and agenda behind it.

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Oh, and another example of this.
Today, a friend posted that she's leaving Facebook, quoting this to be the reason:



Notice the onion....
And even if she didn't know it was the Onion or what it even is, how could something like this NOT be seen for what it is?
It's making fun of people who leave all their sh*t out in public on Facebook, among other stuff... why is this not obvious to everyone?
Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, so she could take her stupidity to Google + (which is where she said she's going... lol)