Usually refering to works of fiction, movies, TV etc.
But I think it’s a much larger phenomenon. It has esaped fiction, entered real life and politics. It drives a lot of people these days to stick with bad narratives instead of facts and, yes, truth.
Meaning: they’re willing to swallow tons of contradictions, plot holes etc. because they want to be convinced by what they’re seeing or being told. That enables certain public people to tell them very flimsy stories.
This is not purely about people choosing bad input because it suits them. It’s not only about being lied to and believing those lies. It’s about being lied to badly and still not letting go of the narrative. Wanting to take it for real so badly.
edit: I’m beginning to realize that people who don’t know or haven’t known suspension of disbelief will try to explain it with something similar that they’re more familiar with.
And it is very similar to things we see happening in so-called political discourse these days, esp. in the USA.
But many have known this since before Trump1.0, see e.g. TVTropes and Wikipedia.
Yeah this exactly.
Something else that might play into it: so many conspiracy nuts refer to movies as if they were history, or prophecy, or scientific research. As if they were valid in a way they clearly aren’t, because they’re fiction. Maybe they really do live in a world where these things are interchangeable.
This exactly. Learning programming was a HUGE hit to my understanding and trust of myself.
Most people don’t go through the visceral experience of seeing how shitty the human experience lines up with reality. Such people absolutely believe in bullshit for the simple reason that it feels correct.
…there might well be something to that.
Yes - exactly as you say, research needs to be done on suspension of disbelief.
And thanks for sharing that fascinating idea.