There are two types of beliefs that people can have that can be expressed in many ways but it boils down to two: Emotional and Intellectual. Logical and Illogical, but it is all the same. One can change and the other is rock solid written with pimperishable marker on the paper, you have to destroy the paper to get rid of the belief, while the other changes as facts present themselves. One is comforting because it always remains true and you can always count on it being the same way forever. The other fluctuates with every new piece of information, it means that you have to keep on top of the research and you can't be lazy, it means your mind can be changed.
All arguments can have proponents that believe like this, one way or the other, but they tend to be different people. There are people in this world that will use logic for almost everything and there are people that will use emotion for almost everything, but mostly people fit on a spectrum where it is a mix of both. I for example realise that my belief that I have Autism Spectrum Disorder is an emotional argument. People could not convince me otherwise if they tried, but if I was presented with overwhelming evidence contrary to that belief and they could give me a more plausible explanation, I would change my beliefs, because that would be logical.
Other people, you could not convince them of anything, because they KNOW the truth. God exists, because the Bible says so, as it was written by God. Aspartame is bad for you and Monsanto is loading GMO pollen into airplanes and flying all over the place and pollinating everything. To someone I know, these are facts. When asked, "Is there any evidence that I could produce, that would change your mind?" the answer is always, "NO!"
I could not, for example, explain that aspartame breaks down in the digestive process into two amino acids and a trace amount of a toxin called Methanol, so small a quantity that one would have to drink 1600 cans of diet soda to recieve a lethal dose, incidentally exceeding the lethal quantity of daily water ingestion too. Instead I am told that aspartame, insert scientific mombojumbo that she cannot explain let alone define the words she is using, that excites our cells and causes them to explode. Their is no convincing her otherwise because she believes her story emotionally.
Emotional arguments are arguements that are part of your existence. To deny them is to deny part of yourself and since you obviously exist, you can't not believe your idea. The belief in observable evidence, on the other hand, allows you break these beliefs, because it is not the belief that you hold personal, but the process, the scientific method. The belief in the process allows you flexibility. So I guess my 'Emotional' belief is the Scientific Theory.
Of course, last I was up way to late reading the counter argument to the latest explosion of nonsense on the evils of GMO from this girl. She exposed the evils of GMO food with the video, "Seeds of Death". It is always important to know a few simple facts. Some people believe that if it is written in a book, it must be true, that modern people do not read anymore so, if there is a video it must also be true. What this really comes down to is that there are never any sources in videos and it is easy to put official looking subtitles to make speakers look like experts with real academic backing behind their statements.
Really if you want to get the scoop behind what these people say all it takes is a quick google search. Enter the search term that they are talking about and add the word 'skeptic' and viola instant rebuttal, backed up with peer review journals and expert responses.
Try it google "seeds of death" skeptic What you get is a whole bunch of interesting facts, like did you know the producer is an AIDS denialist? You know people who think that HIV and AIDS are a big hoax. There was a well backed monthly magazine that wrote exclusively on the subject, but it closed down after all the staff died of a weird wasting disease that resembled the disease that they denied existing. When I saw that he was an AIDS denialist, I just knew there was nothing right with anything he wrote, produced etc.
Keep an open mind, but not so open that your mind falls out.
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