Believing What They Want

Comments focus on how people cling to desired beliefs despite overwhelming contrary evidence, highlighting cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, and resistance to facts that challenge preconceptions.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Politics & Society
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Keywords

PREFER FI4 OF youtube.com NOT FTFY SAP COURSE believe people believe want believe believing beliefs educated evidence cognitive cognitive dissonance educated people

Sample Comments

Clubber Dec 6, 2017 View on HN

People believe what they want to believe, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

shadowfox Jul 1, 2011 View on HN

The problem is of course that people will believe what they want to believe

juliocc Dec 11, 2014 View on HN

A lot of people believing something doesn't make it true.

wyre Sep 11, 2025 View on HN

Not believing facts because you don’t want to believe them? Says everything we need to know.

markhall Oct 22, 2018 View on HN

I've had very similar experiences and find it really frustrating. People inherently don't like being wrong, don't like being proven to be gullible and are less likely to believe information that doesn't reaffirm their beliefs. It's a scary issue that's only likely to get worse.

light_triad Apr 2, 2025 View on HN

Welcome to the Bay Area!The big issue is a lot of people will believe what they want to believe. Most folks are not scientists - they start by assuming their conclusions and will choose the soothing moral and emotional rhetoric over evidence.Trying to see the world objectively puts you in a category of outliers. The people you become friends with due to proximity in everyday life will not be outliers.

tptacek Jan 12, 2023 View on HN

I don't know what you're talking about. People believe things you disagree with. That's not a conspiracy; it's literally just the human condition.

tempodox Apr 4, 2025 View on HN

The voice of reason, but no amount of reason can dissuade anybody from believing what they want to believe.

kbenson Jan 30, 2020 View on HN

Never underestimate what someone will believe when they have a vested interest in believing it.

omeid2 Jun 28, 2019 View on HN

Cognitive Dissonance is a real thing. I think those nonsensical views are largely possible to hold because they're commonly held and not that they have any merit. Unfortunately we are extremely susceptible to conformity and social proof.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2F_7B_-FI4