Willing to be fooled

Now, you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because, of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out.

You want to be fooled.

I was reading this article from my friend over at Reformed Perspective and I was reminded of the above quote from The Prestige, one of my favorite movies. The quote is focused on the way a magician fools his audience -- I'm willing to bet this is not unlike our affinity, in any age, to be willfully fooled by hoax after hoax no matter what the medium.

My first encounter with this phenomenon was when I was 6 or 7 years old and started to pay attention to the conversations among the adults in our circle. Often it included anecdotes that would stick with me because they were pretty sensational. I remember the one about some Russian scientists who maybe discovered a portal to hell by drilling many miles into the earth's crust and lowering microphones. Watching the group, you could tell there were some who wanted to believe it. I heard this story told long before email chains or internet hoaxes existed, so I'm not really sure who invented it. But later on, once the internet became my friend, I discovered the story had been reproduced many times in a variety of formats. Not only that: There is an entire cottage industry of "Russian scientists" stories that regularly pop up (maybe you know a few others) -- perhaps because post-cold war Russia was in the middle of declassifying real material and it made sense to claim all sorts of fantastic things were studied by the Soviets.

Fast-forward to social media -- one of the hotbeds for the proliferation of "fake news." Of course, "fake news" is a political term designed to convince people of what is likely further fake news, making the truth even harder to discern. In other words, you can never tell what is truly fake just from listening to the one crying "fake news."

Political hoaxing is one of our current society's most serious vices. It relies heavily on the fervent desire of ideologically-inclined people to have their opinions confirmed. It relies on a mental commitment to avoid thinking skeptically about any information that confirms our desired truth regarding a party or person. As a result, echo chambers form. We limit our intake to just those sources that confirm what we want confirmed.

The thing about echo chambers: They have their own internal supply and demand ecosystems. Ambitious commentators and entertainers are often expert opportunists at filling the need and occupying the space where ideas are only ever confirmed. And lest you think I am pining for the days when "unbiased" journalism pretended to be a gatekeeper of what is legitimate information, remember that the first newspapers in America were created to bolster certain viewpoints and had partisan editors to frame the content. This hasn't really changed. Journalists were just better at lying to themselves for a time while bowing to the alter of objectivity. That time may be passing, however. Journalism teachers are literally divided over the purpose of their trade and it may be in our lifetime that objectivity becomes a relic.

Most recently, I've noticed that it isn't just Facebook timelines that are the platforms for hoaxing ideological confirmation. The more overt echo-chambers on Facebook are the private groups of which you or someone in your immediate family is likely a part. They begin with rather well-intentioned sharing of information and common interest and often end in something entirely different. Groups are formed around something as innocuous as gardening, sewing, theology, or even neighborhoods and they can be incredibly useful and educational. However, they can also be perfect spaces for people to disappear into a world that only ever confirms what they desire to believe about any given topic.

So where does this lead us as observers and participants in human events? Does it really benefit us if we simply become better skeptics and critical thinkers and processors of information? Yes, but that is not enough. A better solution would be for Christians in America to look at their information consumption, assumptions, and attitudes in light of worship. I've observed, for example, that the most common sign of someone who is stuck in an echo chamber is anger and anxiety -- emotions that often accompany the violation of something we worship. If the emotions we feel over politics or any other topic are greater than the groans we should be groaning along with the entire creation as "we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies," than chances are high we have created an idol or at least are in danger of doing so. 

We are not called to be cynical. There are real debates and questions to be asked and answered as we strive to live out our faith and purpose to love God and our neighbor. However, wisdom puts all in things in their proper place, and all must be subject to this chief end: to glorify God and enjoy him forever. It keeps us humble and provides perspective when we subject our social and civil conversations to this purpose.