Can I Believe It?

We constantly make choices on how much credence to give to what we hear. If I deem the source to be truthful and trustworthy, I take what I hear to be gospel. If I feel that it may be unreliable, I take it with a grain of salt.

When I was a little kid, everything my parents told me I believed. In contrast, most everything I hear today from the president I don’t buy. My parents stopped being gods some time during my adolescence.

We tend to assign a level of credence to each thing that we hear, or to what we read. Sometimes it’s an automatic process, but at other times I find it useful to pause a moment and ask myself, “What’s the credibility of this?” If I can feel confident that it’s true, then I can open up to it, absorb it, learn from it. If I’m doubtful, however, I need to be cautious. I don’t need to automatically reject it—just be aware. I can listen to what I think might be doubtful, as I simultaneously ask myself if there might be another side to the story. I find it worthwhile to listen respectfully, but then go looking for an alternative viewpoint. If I find an alternative perspective, my understanding may significantly improve. Sometimes the alternative is even more valid than the first voice.

For example, I may hear a mainstream medium (a newspaper) report a story—let’s say it’s reporting what a government official said. These days one needs to be cautious about believing such a report—either because many of the media are biased, or they are acting more like a government propaganda machine, or the government spokesperson has put a spin on it. It pays to be discerning and read between the lines. In fact, a more accurate picture of the event can often be found if I take the mainstream media’s reporting with a grain of salt and go looking for alternative viewpoints.

The internet can be a useful tool, in looking for that alternative perspective. The internet, however, can be very error prone. Specious “urban wisdom” is often flung around cyberspace, before its inaccuracy is discovered.

At times, the voice that I am listening to comes from within. I need to apply the same question to my own thoughts: How truthful are they? What kind of biases do I have? A thought is just a thought—no reason to consider it necessarily valid, even if it comes from me… someone I like to consider reasonably trustworthy.

This may sound like I’m a bit suspicious of most everything I hear. Yes, I often am; but it’s more a case of trying to be discerning. When I was younger I went down a lot of blind alleys—after taking something I heard at face value. Older and more cautious now, I appreciate the usefulness of pausing and asking about the credibility of what I hear, and sometimes looking elsewhere.