We tend to read or listen to the writers or pundits with whom we agree. We will read those pieces to the end, and give only a cursory look at the view that contradicts our own. I do it; we all do it. In settings where deliberations may be going on, however, we are given to presenting ourselves as objective. We proclaim that we read a range of publications; that we gather information online; that we watch in-depth interviews and documentaries. We maintain that we seek knowledge; that we Google, that we exchange articles on-line; we text; we email. And from that flood of information, we then make an assessment and come to a logically sound conclusion. We know what we’re talking about. We say that, sometimes angrily.
In fact, however, in the midst of that information flow, most of us are mentally myopic. Most of us come to a subject with our minds already made up; we have our views and we hold to them. Most of us are either suspicious of information that is contrary to what we believe, or we dismiss it outright as propaganda, and we are often completely
