fallacies / biases
12en
- Priming
- Confirmation bias
Some fake news, stereotypes, rumors, false narratives, misinformation spread / amplified:
PizzaGate:
TI:
Haitian migrants in Springfield eating pets:
Trump during the presidential debate on TV:
Example of Confirmation Bias: The richest Man in Germany (Klaus-Michael Kühne) denies his family's past
In early 2014 Kuehne commissioned Handelsblatt Research Institute, the independent research arm of German newspaper Handelsblatt, to conduct a study of his family firm’s entire history for Kuehne + Nagel’s 125th anniversary in July 2015. Researchers were even given access to the company archive in Hamburg and a guarantee of academic freedom and independence, according to people familiar with the matter. But when the final result was sent to Kuehne in early 2015, including a chapter on the activities of his father, uncle, and firm during the Third Reich, he refused to have the study published. Kuehne rejected the study by saying “my father wasn’t a Nazi” during a phone conference, according to people familiar with the conversation. When the researchers refused to change the chapter, according to these sources, Kuehne said the study wouldn’t be published and ended the call. The 180-page study, contractually owned by Kuehne + Nagel, remains unpublished and inaccessible.
from: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/richest-german-nazi-billions, 09/17/2024
Historical Facts:
Ein "Stolperstein" in Hamburg:
HIER WOHNTE ADOLF MAASS JG. 1875 DEPORTIERT 1942 THERESIENSTADT ERMORDET IN AUSCHWITZ
The story behind this "stumbling stone":
After passing his high-school graduating exam (Abitur), Adolf Maass became an apprentice in the Bremen head office of the Kühne and Nagel shipping company, founded in 1890. After a mere year and a half, he was able to finish his apprenticeship and was entrusted with a department of his own. In 1902, the company founder August Kühne sent him to Hamburg to establish a branch. With fervent ambition, great skill and success, he devoted himself to this task, and in 1910, he became a partner in the firm. In 1928, a share of 45 percent of the Hamburg branch of Kühne & Nagel was assigned to him by contractual agreement. The company founder passed away in 1932, and his sons Alfred and Werner took over the business, with Alfred heading the Hamburg branch and his brother staying in the parent company in Bremen. Also in 1932, a conflict arose between the brothers Alfred and Werner Kühne and Adolf Maass. In the aftermath, Maass left the company without any severance payment in Apr. 1933. To what extent political reasons may have played a role as well remains unclear. In a publication commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of Kühne & Nagel, the work of Adolf Maass was definitely acknowledged with appreciation. Regarding his retirement from the company, the text then reads, "In Apr. 1933, Adolf Maass leaves in order to join as a partner a wholesale trade business owned by relatives. Alfred and Werner Kühne manage the company as sole owners.” Werner Kühne became a Nazi party member on 1 May 1933. In the 1940s, the Kühne & Nagel Company profited substantially from transporting from all of Europe so-called "Jews’ goods,” i.e., the household effects of deported Jews that the Nazi state had appropriated.
Adolf Maass joined the Lipmann & Co importing firm, receiving a managing position there. In this company, too, an "Aryan” partner tried to bring the enterprise under his control in 1935. The year 1936 saw the division of the company and the loss of the import quotas. Finally, in 1938, the enterprise was liquidated. In 1938, Adolf Maass was forced to give up his position on the supervisory board of Elsbach AG in Herford, which had been founded by his father-in-law.
At the same time, the plundering of the well-to-do family through Nazi legislation began: The assets were blocked and the "levy on Jewish assets” ("Judenvermögensabgabe”) set at 35,000 RM (reichsmark). Royalties from oil production near Celle, to which the family was entitled, had to be paid over directly to an account controlled by the Hamburg Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident).
After the Pogrom of November 1938, Adolf Maass was arrested and spent several weeks in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The emigration plans the couple considered in the aftermath were shattered by the Second World War. In the summer of 1941, they were forced to sell their lavishly furnished house on Blumenstrasse below value, with the proceeds going to a blocked account as well. In some way, they managed to evade the transport on 25 Oct. 1941 to Lodz: Their names on the deportation list were crossed out by hand. However, at the end of 1941, they were relocated by force to the "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) at Bogenstrasse 25. On 15 July 1942, they then complied with the deportation order to Theresienstadt.
At the same time, the plundering of the well-to-do family through Nazi legislation began: The assets were blocked and the "levy on Jewish assets” ("Judenvermögensabgabe”) set at 35,000 RM (reichsmark). Royalties from oil production near Celle, to which the family was entitled, had to be paid over directly to an account controlled by the Hamburg Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident).
After the Pogrom of November 1938, Adolf Maass was arrested and spent several weeks in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The emigration plans the couple considered in the aftermath were shattered by the Second World War. In the summer of 1941, they were forced to sell their lavishly furnished house on Blumenstrasse below value, with the proceeds going to a blocked account as well. In some way, they managed to evade the transport on 25 Oct. 1941 to Lodz: Their names on the deportation list were crossed out by hand. However, at the end of 1941, they were relocated by force to the "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) at Bogenstrasse 25. On 15 July 1942, they then complied with the deportation order to Theresienstadt.
from: https://www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de/en.php?MAIN_ID=7&BIO_ID=1492 09/17/2024, 09/17/2024
meaning of the word "cult":
1. a system of religious devotion directed towards a particular figure or object. "the cult of St Olaf"
- a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members. "a network of Satan-worshipping cults"
- a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular thing. "the cult of the pursuit of money as an end in itself
2. a person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society. "the series has become a bit of a cult in the UK"
from: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=definition+cult (taken from Oxford Languages)
Examples:
Explanations:
- Group Think
brief explanation on wikipedia: "Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Cohesiveness, or the desire for cohesiveness, in a group may produce a tendency among its members to agree at all costs.[1] This causes the group to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink)
symptoms explained on wikipedia:
To make groupthink testable, Irving Janis devised eight symptoms indicative of groupthink:[20]
Type I: Overestimations of the group — its power and morality
- Illusions of invulnerability creating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking.
- Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.
Type II: Closed-mindedness
- Rationalizing warnings that might challenge the group's assumptions.
- Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, biased, spiteful, impotent, or stupid.
Type III: Pressures toward uniformity
- Self-censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
- Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.
- Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of "disloyalty".
- Mindguards— self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.
When a group exhibits most of the symptoms of groupthink, the consequences of a failing decision process can be expected: incomplete analysis of the other options, incomplete analysis of the objectives, failure to examine the risks associated with the favored choice, failure to reevaluate the options initially rejected, poor information research, selection bias in available information processing, failure to prepare for a back-up plan.
For more details study: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink