Florida store owner shoots teen in self-defense, killing him

[Speck Tater]

78. Exactly. And if you point that out to someone who doesn't want it to be true...

you get jumped all over.

That's my point. People, all people, not just here on DU, decide what they believe first, and then either search for facts to support what they believe, or if there are no facts that support them, they make up stories about what "must have" happened. Any time a news story involving something we have strong opinions about is posted here, what we get is NOT objective discussion of the facts, but stories made up to support a preconceived conclusion.

And the sad thing is that you can show people the psychological studies that prove that this is how humans beings, ALL human beings, function, and they will STILL believe that they, personally, are the one exception in the world to that rule. They, and they alone, are considering all the facts and arriving at an objective decision.

I'm just really beginning to realize exactly how pervasive this phenomenon is. NOTHING posted on DU, or in Freeperville, for that matter, has anything to do with objective facts. It always and only has to do with telling ourselves and each other stories to justify the conclusions we already made long before any facts were available for consideration.

And I'm the same way. I long ago decided that the human race is fatally flawed and doomed to extinction, and I come here to DU only to pick and choose whatever evidence I can find that supports that pre-made conclusion.