It’s easy for most of us to believe that truth is all that matters. It doesn’t matter what some crazy nuts believe. All that matter is truth.
Imagine if you’re a defendant in court. Which one matters more? The truth whether you indeed rape or murder the girl, or whatever the judge and jury believe?
Which one will land you in jail?
Now look at how politics work.
There is nothing in anti-drug laws that specify that prohibited drugs must be dangerous. There is nothing in anti-prostitution laws that specify that prostitution must be promiscuous or forced. Anti-women trafficking laws specifically add clauses that trafficking is still prohibited irrelevant of consent.
Yet most people believe that all prohibited drugs are more dangerous than the legal ones. People also believe that all prostitution and women trafficking are not consensual and hence less preferable than the legal marriage. Quite often their beliefs are what matters.
To further add complication, beliefs are often very useful for those who are in power. Those who are in power then have strong incentive to promote the beliefs irrelevant of truth. Take a look the belief that all humans are equal and have right to live for example. There is no proof for that. Yet, most of us, including me, would want to embrace that for obvious reason. We don’t want to die. Also if we end up killing each other we are all worst off.
This is too complicated. Few if any individuals in ancient time see that we will kill each other unless we recognize right not to be killed. Till today, most people don’t know. Most people are not aware that most people live, simply because it’s illegal to kill them.
Even if most of us do not want to kill for money, once we see too many people do it and get away with it, we too will do it. The main reason why we don’t kill is simply because we believe that killing doesn’t pay.
In ancient time, religions give reason to promote beliefs that simply don’t have proof but beneficial to many anyway.
Many things are not that benign.
We sort of think that most interaction are consensual. We sort of see that prohibition against consensual acts are the exception rather than the norm. Few of us see that’s it’s simply the interest of those who are in power, rather than the interest of the consenting parties, that are behind laws against consensual acts.
Put your self in the shoes of judges. Which way the judges care more? Truth or bribe? It’s easy for us to blame judges. But aren’t we like that? When we vote, do we care about justice or interests? Very often it’s simply our interests too, which we pretend to be justice.
It’s simply not to the best interest of religious leaders to let their followers to interpret their religions freely or change religion.
The same way it’s not to the best interests of those with less to offer to simply legalize all consensual transactions. Doing so would force them to compete viciously against those with far better offers than them. That often lead to extinction.
We don’t expect most voters to want free trades, which mean they are losing their job. We don’t expect poorer males would want sugar babies legalized, which mean the rich will just get all the girls. The same way we don’t expect ugly feminists to support legalization porn, in which prettier girls get all the attention. We also won’t expect the poor not to support nationalized health care or lower tax. It simply isn’t going to happen.
One solution is to embrace freedom all the way and fight for our freedom, or look at reality and adapt to it. That’s what tyrants and grafters do. They lied, they cheat, they enslave, but what’s the alternative? The alternative is to be lied to, to be cheated to, and to be non-consensually enslaved by the will of the ignorant majority.
To further add to the complexity, beliefs do change reality to the same, if not more degree, than the other way around. If people believe something, they bet on it, they count on it, then they want it, and they make that happens.
We believe that drugs are dangerous, so it becomes really dangerous with mafias, gangs, and cops shooting each other over it. Countries that legalize drugs will be vilified for the obvious reason. They show that drug is not dangerous and that means offending the beliefs of many with interests invested on drugs prohibition.
Many believe that God exist and is on their side, and the world behave as if God is really on the emperor’s side with everyone fears rebelling against emperors. We believe that prostitution can’t be consensual and what do you think a pimp will do if he knows that the punishment for him will be the same anyway whether the girls consent or not?
Because our beliefs, though false, are even useful to us, and because beliefs are self-fulfilling, we tend to maintain our beliefs irrelevant of anything.
Now, I wonder if I can learn more about it? NLP?
Truth vs Beliefs is a post from: Free Market Forever