The Abandonment of Belief
By: Jordan Ott
Tags: Belief, Culture, Entertainment, Media

Society as a whole has been conditioned to blindly accept prevailing social visions, looking only for confirmatory evidence to support their already chosen position. This begins with the educating of young minds, and it is further perpetuated by culture and the media.

First, it will be useful to provide grounds for what this piece is not. So that you, the reader, do not project your bias or preconceived notions onto it. Above all, this is not an attack on culture, the education system, or the media. Education is vital, and one of the strongest correlates with success in the world today. The tension here is not with the education system rather how “education” is conducted and what it yields. Others have already detailed the toxicity and decisiveness of current American News and Media outlets. Here we will not discuss news or political media but instead focus on entertainment media, specifically heroic narratives. This is not a left versus right or black versus white. It’s a call for skepticism, empirically grounded positions, and abandonment of belief.

Culture instills many ideals without proper justification. Examples of ideals promoted by culture are religious teachings and political dogmas. Unique to American culture is the notion of American Exceptionalism. America is often described as unique because it was founded on a set of ideals rather than cultural heritage or royal lineage. However true that may have been in the past, the reasoning today has become more circular. Following statements like, America is the greatest country in the world because it is America. Commonly cited are many freedoms such as speech, religion, press, etc.. However, these freedoms are often compared to the Communist Dictatorships of today and regimes of the past. These easy comparisons only provide facts that supported a preconceived idea — confirmation bias. The point is not whether America is exceptional or not; it is merely there must be solid facts and evidence to support such claims. Comparisons must be rigorous and well researched. If citizens believe they are exceptional simply because they are American, the only thing they may excel at is being unexceptional.

In grade school, students are taught to memorize facts and follow mathematical algorithms in the form of a checklist. Often little to no intuition is instilled as to what these facts are useful for beyond the classroom exam. Repetitive exposure to this process stifles creativity and produces compliant rule-following students, who are taught not to question why but to blindly accept and follow. Blind acceptance of mathematical, historical, or scientific facts without understanding the underlying mechanisms is, in fact, no better than a belief. If anything, it is more dangerous because it disguises itself as intellectual knowledge.

A different type of media that follows the aforementioned faux pas is that of entertainment media, specifically heroic dramas. These immersive tales capture our imaginations and have us rooting for protagonistic characters simply because they are presented as such. The Wizard of Oz outright labels the villain in her name, as the “Wicked Witch” of the West. However, she was after Dorthy for landing her house on her sister — murder — and taking her shoes — theft. Captain Hook, in the fairy tale of Peter Pan, goes after a boy who refuses to grow up — denial of responsibility. President Snow, in The Hunger Games, never demolished district 13 — they forced him into a treatise at nuclear weapon-gun point — and came to power when the games were already in place. The Principal in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is the antagonist for wanting Ferris to be in school — his job as a principal. While it may appear silly to question the narratives of movies and children’s tales, there is a common underlying substrate that must be acknowledged — the requirement of belief. This necessity yields a group of individuals willing to believe one side is evil and must be stopped at all costs. Sound familiar to our political climate today?

The problem is not a result of culture, education systems, or the media. These are abstract notions and institutions which cannot be held responsible. Only individual humans can be held accountable for these issues. The burden falls on every one of us to resist “leaps of faith” and “belief” in the absence of empirical evidence and solid understanding. In culture, education, and media, the solution is the same. An abandonment of belief, faith, trust, or any acceptance grounded synonym.

In culture, this means a reexamination of group practices. Continuing a tradition because it has always been that way is a form of blind belief. In education, we must encourage young minds to be skeptical and to take the burden of proof on themselves. This responsibility will allow them to go deeper into the material and gain extraordinary insights into problems. In the media, we can be skeptical of stories while still enjoying the entertainment they provide. Empirical evidence must be the grounds for all guiding principles. Nothing should be believed or doubted simply on its own.