h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sef.
I am fascinated by your revisionist view of history.
Any chance of a short outline?

Oh yeah..like your egalitarian approach!

Can I take it you have read 1984 by George Orwell. If not, then you won't already be aware of the relevance of the analogy since the real 1984 was a moderately undistinguished year as far as I remember.

As a young child I thought the underlying premise of the book (that people would believe the lies told to them in flat contradiction of the evidence and alter their own memories accordingly) was rather silly. That wasn't the way my mind worked and it wasn't even, as far as I could tell, the way the minds of other people in my family worked and I had no evidence at that point that the norm was much different. The book didn't count because science fiction intentionally includes a degree of "let's pretend". However, a little later I started meeting more humans and discovered from this larger sample that that aspect of the book was not so absurd after all. I also found out that my brother was not such a freak for being unable to sing well since he was closer to the norm!

Anyhow, there was a whole range of symptoms in these people. They would contradict themselves over any given time period without apparently noticing that they currently or previously held an opposing view - even when documented by themselves. Sometimes the self-contradictory opinions were held at the same time - often the result of brainwashing in some religion or other. Sometimes the change could be pinned down to some plausible (but usually lying) person talking to them. They might or might not remember the specific occasion but the particular slip they made or the phrasing they used could give away who it was. Then there was the whole question of forming an opinion in contradiction of the evidence, without sufficient evidence (failing to notice this or bother to look) or on the evidence of people easily proven to be untrustworthy and lacking the relevant education themselves - politicians being the most obvious example. This leads to the ludicrous belief held by some that the opinion of someone ignorant of the facts is as valid as that of an expert (and all stages in between with varying probability of being correct). Note that this is often a subconscious belief, since it may be possible to explain to them why they are wrong but that still doesn't stop them doing it over and over again.

One simple example with which many people may be familiar is the shop assistant who tells you things have always been this way when you ask about something which has moved location. It invariably turns out that they have been in the job for a few weeks or months while you have been a regular customer for much longer.

I see yes of course!
I thought you meant other stuff!