Why do most people refuse to accept that they are wrong
I have come across a lot’s of people like these. like 99% of them. Sometimes it makes me think twice if what i am saying is wrong? What’s wrong with them. Is it so hard to swallow your pride and acknowledge that the other person is speaking facts? When they come to know they are wrong they proceed to insult/make fun of others to save their ass. Just why?
Even though I believe I’m right, there’s always a possibility of being wrong. Learning to live with this realization hasn’t been easy since I really like being right and hate being wrong. I suppose lots of other people feel the same way.
No matter how hard I try, I am still wrong about a bunch of stuff, so it’s good to come to terms with this reality of life. Accepting it is easier than trying to fight against the inevitable. Once you realize you’re wrong, acknowledge your mistake, fix it, and move on.
Truth is a difficult place to get there and the farther you stray from it the harder it is to get to. This is why those who lie intentionally eventually find themselves not living in reality. IE our worst politicians.
More seriously, we tend to make it a Great Big Thing when people are wrong. If we acknowledge it and move on, and let them do the same, I’m sure admitting when we’re wrong would be much less painful.
There's also the possibility of competing interests. There's no "wrong" answer, but people will argue certain facts to persuade others to take their position. This is called "politics."
Because most people have their own idea of what is morally right in the world, and they want to cling onto that regardless of what other perspectives may exist. Both sides do this.
Also, in some cases, speaking the truth about something leads to them losing their jobs or livelihoods.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair
Sometimes you have to cut your losses and leave a conversation. If it’s some rando on the internet, just walk away and try not to care what they think.
With people you know and respect, you’re gonna have to hunker down for the long haul. Remember, if you come off like a jerk, they’re going to be less likely to accept your argument. Be respectful of their position but ask probing questions. Let them see for themselves that they’re wrong.
if you come off like a jerk, they’re going to be less likely to accept your argument
Very true. Lots of people attempt to package two messages together:
You’re wrong about this
You’re worthless
Quite frankly, people should reject the second message, and people who try to package the first with the second should expect listeners to reject the whole package.
Honestly it’s probably better for people to reject that whole package of messages than to accept it, even if it means being wrong, because at least they won’t be taking that toxicity into their soul.
Someone who goes around trying to convey those messages together, to be accepted as a package, is themselves doing it wrong.
Same here. I don’t call myself a truth seeker because I already know the truth, I call myself a truth seeker because I’m a truth seeker, but I get a more premeditated/artificial vibe from other people. Is it that people forget that leading thinkers actually embraced change? A lot of political theorists, one might say including Karl Marx, are said to have died with different ideas than when they began.
On the opposite end of things, I also get a disapproving reaction when I mention this. I remember long ago I made a fake game picture of a “Pokémon trainer” version of me declaring defeat, which was supposed to be put at the end of discussions to signify I considered myself schooled, and people reacted accusing me of “excess pomp” to quote one person.
In my experience, with most people, his typically goes away as they get older. You eventually hit a point where people’s impressions of you dont matter anymore and it becomes much easier to freely admit you’re wrong.
Of course, there are people that never grow out of it, and that is often read as confidence. There is a reason that “fake it until you make it” works.
I am 18 currently and I have pretty much stopped caring about what others think of me. It just feels as if wasting any more energy speaking to them would be useless. But when I don’t defend myself people start verbally abusing me etc. I just don’t know what to do in situations like these
When I was 18, I started hangin out with a different crowd. ADULTS (of any age). If I was wrong, they’d explain why nicely. And vice versa. Learned a lot.
Sometimes an idea is so engraved in their heads that they cannot believe otherwise. Also, some people don’t like to fact-check. They may hear a “fact” which is popular but is totally false, and they will never change their minds about it.
I suppose the positions you are describing are not reached by reasoning, rather by being part of a group, religion or ideology. In those cases it’s quite clear that they can’t give up the position unless they weaken their ties to that group/religion/ideology, or abandon it entirely.
Some times in their life people are open to big changes, but most of the time not.
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