My column in the print TIME this week expands on this earlier post, about how and why myths, conspiracy theories and misinformation persist despite—or partly because of?—their debunking in the mainstream media. [The column’s not currently online; I’ll link here if that changes.] Thanks here go to commenter archstanton68, who pointed me to a Boston Globe piece on how being presented with facts can actually strengthen people’s misbeliefs, which in turn led me to several other fascinating studies along the same lines.
In other news, a new poll shows that nearly half of Americans believe that the TARP bank bailout (September 2008) was enacted while Obama was president, compared with 34 percent who correctly placed it during the Bush administration. Silver lining: there was no partisan divide on this one—our fellow citizens were equally wrong regardless of their politics. God bless America!