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I know the truth, so don’t bother me with facts.

In the article “I know the truth, so don’t bother me with facts” Jeffery Kluger explains why people insist to believe in rumors rather than facts. The author quotes the recent studies made by R. Kelly and Erik Nisbet based on 750 people who had the wrong conception of the Islamic cultural center. The researchers came up with a conclusion that even though, with all the facts that have been given to those people, they tend to keep their prior beliefs, instead of changing their opinion. Our mind is predisposed to bias, it resists rational explanation. If rumors reinforce our beliefs we are happy to ignore the facts and protect our faith by subscribing to rumors.

 I agree with studies made by R. Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet that even though, with all the facts and time that has been given to people, they tend to keep their prior beliefs. We make instant judgments; most of the time not favorable for the person being judged and we don’t like to be told that we are wrong.

This article can be related to my personal life. One day my friend and I decided to go shopping. We took the train to the World Trade Center. We were talking when all of a sudden two Arabian men came in the train. They both had on two large backpacks that were pretty full. When the train was leaving the station they decided to put their bags on the floor next to us. We thought that they were going to hold onto the railing, but instead they walked to the other side of the train. We didn’t know how to react because we had no clue what they had in those bags. I thought in my mind that they were terrorists and that they were planning on killing everyone in that train cart. When I searched for them, they were on the other side looking at the MTA map. After a short period of time, they came back. My friend and I felt a little bit ashamed because we were judging these two men based on what other people from their race did. We didn’t know how they could react because after listening to all the news across the world, we may judge/ react to a certain race in an unpleasant.

            I came across a situation where I believed I was right and no one can tell me otherwise. This occurred in chemistry class when I was given a group assignment. My friend and I sat down to do it not knowing the whole criteria and what the professor expected us to do. We decided that we were going to write an essay just like the rest of the people in my class. When we handed in our assignment the professor said he couldn’t accept it because it wasn’t written the way he wanted it to be and some things were missing. My friend stood by my side and we both argued that he didn’t explain his expectations to us and we could of wrote about anything as long as we understood the topic. Just because he gave us a format didn’t mean that we had to go along with it. We could have done it a different way and so we did. By doing this the professor decided not to accept our paper and gave us a failing grade. Us arguing with him didn’t help us in this situation because the teacher is always right no matter what. By the professor telling me that I was wrong I was really mad. I believe that I am always right; by him telling me I am wrong I stay strong to my word and will argue to get my point across.

             Rumors can be very powerful and dangerous tools.  We should not judge a person based on rumors that are spread in society and expressed in media. By going along with these rumors we could hurt someone in many different ways. Instead of relying on rumors we should be familiar with the facts and based on that make up our own opinion. As a result, we should not stick to our own beliefs only be open minded in situations.