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Here I present some data to you, it is fact. All you need do to see the truth of it is understand it; obviously if you can't see the truth of it you don't understand it.
Being a Pastafarian I know that the universe began with pasta, all things formed from the sea of bolognese and humans are merely vessels for the eternal meatballs that must be freed from their noodly shackels. This is not some belief it is fact. It is knowledge we all have and through Pastafarianism can come to understand. I understand it and so can you.
OK, so before you all point out the apparent idiocy of the above "data" let's take time to consider where it really goes wrong.
It isn't so much the belief rather it is the idea that it is fact that one must come to understand rather than something to critically appraise. "if you cannot see the truth of it you don't understand it." is flawed thinking.
OK you may think so?
Well believe it or not people do fall in to the trap that if they cannot see something as true it's because they don't understand it rather than because it isn't true.
Worse the same people often come to believe they do understand said something and by doing so determine it must be true.
Even worse they come to the conclusion that because they believe they understand it and so it is true that don't believe in it rather they know it. It is no longer a belief they have rather it is knowledge they understand.
Effectively by applying the flawed thinking "if I cannot see it as true then I don't understand it" they transcend belief and faith in to delusional dogma and become sincere that they are possessed of fact rather than faith and belief.
OK, I accept this thinking is not an issue when applied to scientific fact, although the more philosophical amongst you may argue, but it is when this thinking is applied to someone's world view or belief system.
It's this kind of thinking that contributes to people becoming extremists with the characteristic we are right, they are wrong and our cause is righteous dogma. It is by instilling this kind of thinking that organisations or groups can manipulate people in to seeing the world their way.
Pasta is undeniably the basis of Life the Universe and Everything! The survival of humanity depends on everyone understanding this. You must help save the planet from the entanglement of noodles. Donate to the great bolognese drive that this can become so!
Thoughts?