The Power of a Misconception

On a daily basis we judge people we come across, less so on people we know unless they exhibit some sort of “odd” behavior that we become concerned about, sometimes mistakenly. And sometimes misconceptions can lead to life changing errors, believing someone is a horrible person when you’re really reading things the wrong way.

But, how can you know for sure? When your brain and gut is telling you your [mis]conception is the correct analysis, we can easily be deluded into believing fallacies. It’s a part of the human psyche that propaganda from all sides play on and intend on affecting.

Let’s say Bob has a problem with his VCR, and after a number of attempts to “fix” the problem, it seems hopeless, so, in frustration he throws the VCR away, not realizing the problem laid with the fact that it wasn’t plugged in. A simple example of a misconception, but, they can come in more complex forms.

Which brings me to what inspired me on this topic: The story of Japanese Army Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onada. For 29 years after the surrender of Japan in WWII he continued to operate on the island of Lubang in the Philippines, believing that the propaganda being fed to them (leaflets, Japanese on megaphones telling them the war was over) was false, and that it was just an attempt by the Americans to get more prisoners.

Huge misconception, spawned by distrust, and questioning the validity of people’s words. This leads others away from organized religion, or away from the government establishment. But, it can also be a great error. And it all has to do with what is perceived to be true, to be real.

How can you know for sure? Your gut can be wrong (though I have found that sometimes a connection can make that gut feeling more accurate in its predictions), fear can sometimes cause your subconscious to assume wrongly. Misconceptions can ruin friendships, relationships, relations with parents, all the way up to perhaps entire nations (such as Saudi Arabia, where Arab children are brought up being taught about how “evil” the west is).

The truth tends to always be a victim in a conflict, whether between individuals or nations and organizations (usually the first victim) and sometimes left to always remain hidden below the rubble in the aftermath due to various stories / propaganda from either side.

But, if you recognize that what you believe or feel is a misconception, should you not try and clear it up? Or is that feeling inside that its all a misconception the real misconception??

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This was an old blog post from June 22nd, 2004