Stuff you agree with: humanity's tendency to believe what they want

Any true journalist or public relations professional strives to present information objectively and without bias. Unfortunately, bias is always suspected, even when presenting facts backed by reputable sources. In the proliferation of fake news in today’s world of social media, people like to read and believe whatever already supports what they think. Any sort of factual information to the contrary is seen as a direct attack on them and their beliefs, and the source is immediately blamed for having bias.

Our judgment is strongly influenced, unconsciously, by which side we want to win — and this is ubiquitous.  -Julia Galef

According to an article written by Julia Galef, writer and co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality, we unconsciously believe in whatever side we want to win, and this shapes every aspect of our lives. Humans feel the need to be right, and to have their opinions validated as fact. It is much easier to just confirm what someone believes than to completely change their opinion. That is the challenge of communication. Presenting information that is true and accurate is important, but getting our intended audience to accept it is even more so. The information must be presented in a way that doesn’t tell them outright that they are wrong, it must be presented so that it makes them truly think about the situation and the associated facts. We can provide the information, but our audience must be the one to arrive at the correct conclusion.  

As a communication professional, there is not much we can do to force people to believe what we write, nor can we keep them from suspecting bias in the information presented. That is why it is vitally important that we continue to objectively provide information, thoroughly research our facts, and disseminate the information as best we can.