How is it that people can be obliviously gullible when presented with an outrageous claim, without the slightest degree of skepticism, but when presented with something trivially mundane, suddenly they are unreasonably incredulous?
My mother believes the bible is the literal word of God. She believes every story in the text to be 100% true (Ark, talking snake, rib-woman, Jesus miracles, 7 day creation, etc.). But, when I posted a picture of something I built out of wooden pallets on Facebook, she said that I needed to be cautious of pallet wood harboring E Coli. When I explained that I used brand new pallets that were used to ship furniture, and that I sanded, stained, and sealed the wood that I used, she was still worried that they may have been recycled and used previously to carry something from overseas that may be dangerous.
...okay, mother
Granted, there's always a chance for something dangerous to occur, but the mere chance that I could get struck by lightening doesn't compel me to dawn a rubber suit every time it rains. I wonder if believing in God is just one of the things people accept as true because they are generally incapable of forming realistic perceptions of things proportionate to their probability. This would explain why they seem so inconsistent in the vesting of their credulity. Putting religion aside for a moment, this impairment makes it hard to have a productive conversation about anything that is up for debate. I guess it could be viewed that my mom is just gullible on the whole. She believes in God, she believes in disease infested pallets, and her attitude toward things in general is merely the product of an unfiltered mind filled with things that are just allowed to slip in freely. I don't know, but it drives me crazy!
https://youtu.be/TS0CvVE-tAY
My mother believes the bible is the literal word of God. She believes every story in the text to be 100% true (Ark, talking snake, rib-woman, Jesus miracles, 7 day creation, etc.). But, when I posted a picture of something I built out of wooden pallets on Facebook, she said that I needed to be cautious of pallet wood harboring E Coli. When I explained that I used brand new pallets that were used to ship furniture, and that I sanded, stained, and sealed the wood that I used, she was still worried that they may have been recycled and used previously to carry something from overseas that may be dangerous.
...okay, motherGranted, there's always a chance for something dangerous to occur, but the mere chance that I could get struck by lightening doesn't compel me to dawn a rubber suit every time it rains. I wonder if believing in God is just one of the things people accept as true because they are generally incapable of forming realistic perceptions of things proportionate to their probability. This would explain why they seem so inconsistent in the vesting of their credulity. Putting religion aside for a moment, this impairment makes it hard to have a productive conversation about anything that is up for debate. I guess it could be viewed that my mom is just gullible on the whole. She believes in God, she believes in disease infested pallets, and her attitude toward things in general is merely the product of an unfiltered mind filled with things that are just allowed to slip in freely. I don't know, but it drives me crazy!
https://youtu.be/TS0CvVE-tAY
