Say the Yankees are up to bat against the Orioles. Derek Jeter hits a ground ball, and it's one of those plays at first that is just too close to call. Guaranteed that every Yankee fan will say he's safe, and every Orioles fan will say he's out. Of course, that's not surprising. But what's surprising, to me at least, isn't that the fans say that, but that they really believe it.Now, Jeter beat the throw or he didn't. Yet the people watching that play, see it as they want to see it, not as it actually is.
Obviously, this applies to a lot more than baseball. We see things as we want to see them. Sports, relationships, politics, you name it: anything we can have an opinion on, we're going to bias it, without even knowing. We will swear up and down that we're right, whether we are or not. We are sure that we are right, so obviously the other guys must be lying.
Now I understand how our desires can color our opinions, but actual physical happenings? How does that happen? But if our opinions can make us see a play at first base wrong, just think how they can affect more subjective subjects.
It's no wonder we fight all the time!
Maybe thats why we have people that we trust to keep us grounded, no matter if they are going to tell us we are wrong. And because we trust them, we know that we have to at least rethink our opinion if they think we are wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd this kinda goes along with your Good vs Evil post. People's opinion seem to sway them one way or the other. And their opinions might be different then yours, so to you, they are wrong and possible evil, of course depending on the situation that you disagree on.