Has Mumbo Jumbo Taken Over the World?
By: Alexander Lovell
Tags: Politics, Thinking, Conversations, Social Change, Social Media

Instead of letting the mumbo jumbo take over, let’s stop it. Here are three tips to consider:

Create your own operating “encyclopedia.”

Hear a new word or an intriguing new theory? Write it down! Then, when you have a few minutes, create an entry in an operating encyclopedia. Be honest with yourself about what you know and what you don’t know. Also, write down how you obtained this existing knowledge. Both of these are essential parts of this process! Clearly outlining what you know and don’t know helps draw boundaries around your memory when you recall the knowledge later on. This step also enables you to keep a record of how you obtain knowledge. After doing this for a while, you might find many of your misconceptions and incorrect background “facts” come from a specific source (like that one friend on Facebook).

Once you know where you need to focus on, fill in your knowledge gaps. Multiple sources are critical here, and not merely to parse out bias. There are often equally valid ways to describe something, and seeing each perspective broadens your own.

I like to record my knowledge journey for every concept, charting the evolution in my thinking. I have found that it helps me create empathy for others that might be where I was earlier in the process, rather than being frustrated they aren’t at my stage of thinking. It also enables me to track my “ah-ha’s” and share those with others.

Record yourself.

I know, it sounds weird. Try it sometime — record yourself explaining a concept or debating with someone. Why? How we speak and engage in dialogue is different from how we write. By recording yourself and critically analyzing how you presented facts or an argument, you can determine where and how you embellish. I’m sorry to tell you, but you do it. I do it. We all embellish.

Try answering a few of these questions:

Why did I use that word? What value did that word have? Did my discourse partner understand that word? How would I know?

Did I have empathy for the other perspective? How did I express that?

When I talked about “X,” did I stay true to my operating encyclopedia?

After you critically analyze the dialogue, ask yourself one last question: how should I change my operating knowledge set (or at least study more)? Then, do it. The pursuit of knowledge is cyclical — it is when we stop interrogating our thought processes that misinformation thrives.

Reconsider the article you are about to share on <social media of choice>.

When you find an article that jives with your perspective, engages your thinking, and inevitably makes you want to share, don’t. At least not yet. Take a step back and consider if the article is accessible to those without foundational knowledge. If it does, you have three choices:

Share it anyway, and probably contribute to the problem of “mumbo jumbo.”

Share it, but also link to a foundational perspective.

Find a more accessible article to share.

Does this seem like overkill? Maybe. But you will likely fail to do what you were hoping to do: engage others with your perspective. Instead, people may skip over it entirely, apply misinformation to the article to “understand” it, or write you off as <insert rude stereotype or classifier here>.

My favored approach is usually the second bullet. I will look through my operating encyclopedia and find a foundational article that was helpful for me. Then, when I share, I’ll do something like this:

I loved this article about “mumbo jumbo.” Sums up exactly what I have been thinking about for a while. Would love your thoughts. By the way, if you aren’t sure what “mumbo jumbo” is, you should read this: <article>. It really helped me grasp what was at play here.

Look, I am a realist; I acknowledge that many people will not broaden their perspective or take responsibility for educating themselves. However, I have been pleasantly surprised at how many people actually do.