Misconceptions

To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy, all humans have misconceptions, and many people will always mistake these misconceptions for the truth. These misconceptions arise from the battle between the spiritual and material inner nature of humans.

Jean Jacques Rousseau said that “we have misconceptions not because we think illogically but because we live our lives badly.” He believed that ignorance could not lead to evil, misconceptions do. “It’s not what people do know, it’s what they pretend that they do.”

Arthur Schopenhauer argued that “every misconception is a poison: there are no harmless misconceptions.” The purposeful poisoning of the mind is very real.

Tolstoy believed that freeing human beings from misconception is a charitable act that cannot be compared to acts of mercy such as feeding the hungry, giving clothes to the needy, or visiting someone in the hospital when they are sick.

Misconceptions are often accepted as truth and the person holding that misconception does not bother to search for its veracity or falsity. Misconceptions are generally false, and they arise from conventional wisdom, stereotypes, superstitions, fallacies, misunderstandings, and a lack of understanding science.

You could call misconceptions ‘factoids’ delivered by ignorant of “fact checkers,” who, in a purposefully deceptive manner, disperse political opinions covered with a veneer of truth. Disinformation leads to misconceptions because that was the intent.