Is it just me?

 Photo: Canva.com

These days at our office morning tea, our conversation often comes back to the state of the world and the litany of awful events, crazy ideas and power-hungry people that dominate the news. I have often found myself pondering the question raised by Fr. Brendan Hoban in his latest article on the Association of Catholic Priest’s website – is it just me? Or is something seriously wrong with the world?

Hoban suggests that we are living in “an Age of Unreason”. Nothing is taken for granted anymore and it is increasingly difficult to tell truth from fiction, leaving us as he puts it without an anchor in a sea of non-sense. True stories are written off as fake and fake stories are taken as true. AI can create stories and images that can look real but are total fiction. Hoban mentions that Pope Leo is one of the targets for this kind of activity. What many people believe has less to do with any form of “objective” truth than with the tribe they belong to, the perspective from which they view the world, and what preexisting beliefs they have.

In his book “The Art of Thinking Clearly” Rolf Dobelli provides a list of 99 different types of illusion, deception, and bias that can cloud our thinking and distort our sense of what is real and true. One of these is called confirmation bias. When people are confronted with new information they tend to believe as true what confirms their existing view of reality and reject what contradicts that view. They find it hard to see the flaws in what fits with their belief but can readily pick holes in what does not. We see regular examples in news stories and online platforms where people are clearly committed to a certain narrative, and it does not matter what evidence is put to them that questions this narrative, they refuse to accept it.  

The last on his list is what he calls “news illusion”. He argues that “news” is a particular form of information that is easy to take in. He suggests that “scandalous, shocking, people-based, loud, fast changing details all stimulate us while abstract, complex and unprocessed information sedates us”.  We are exposed to a wide range of information but often without any depth of understanding. His solution – avoid “news” and read long background articles and books instead.  

Meanwhile we look for something that will provide the missing anchor. This year is the Jubilee Year of Hope, with an anchor as its symbol. Our hope is in Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life.  For us this provides a firm foundation. For others with different perspectives and beliefs they see this as the greatest illusion of all. To get a truer picture of what is happening to our world we too need to be more aware of those aspects of reality that are screened out by our set of biases and preexisting beliefs.

Fr Pat O'Shea lives and works in Aotearoa/New Zealand