Charlie Kirk: Aftermath and Myths

Self-Hypnosis takes Command

RevisionistHistory.org

I sometimes despair of the decline of our ability to separate truth from tabloid rumors and outright falsification which has been bred from our abandonment of the printed word and our entanglement with the mass trauma of Internet spectatorship.

True, the Gutenberg universe is not a guaranteed prophylactic against deception. There is no remedy for wanting to be fooled, whether by printed books or in the online realm. However, the incentives for seduction by the deception into which confirmation bias leads us, is stronger in the digital world than it is in contemplation of the printed page, where minds can be more deeply engaged and where, quite often with the better books, there is a proliferation of empirical evidence inviting hours of sustained analysis.

For those whose daily Internet dosage is high, I must ask, do you also expend hours a day reading the printed page? If the latter is the case, what is the quality of the content in the books you read daily, other than the Bible? Do you challenge yourself with volumes which compass profound subjects and theses?

These questions come to mind in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, when reckless rumors have been propagated by “influencers” with millions of followers online. They are smitten with confirmation bias to the extent that they are unable to refrain from disseminating wishful thinking and presenting it as truth. Let us deconstruct these impostures, beginning with:

The “Charlie the Catholic” Rumor