LogFAQs > #978882520

ZayKayWill posted...

You're gonna hate on Ancient Aliens? Really?

Yes.

And even more so on the people who watch it.



ZayKayWill posted...

Ancient Aliens...doesn't seem inaccurate to me.

And that is precisely the problem.

Most of the time, if I see the show in passing, I will hear them present inaccurate or misleading information within the first minute or two of when I start listening. And when they're not straight up misrepresenting facts to support their distorted world-view, they're relying almost entirely on "weasel words" - phrases like "alien theorists suggest" or "is it possible that?" are used constantly (make it a drinking game and you'll be dead by the end of the show). Which is a rhetorical trick to suggest and imply things while still maintaining plausible deniability ("Well, I never said that, I just asked if it was possible."). The show is almost entirely constructed from outright lies and deliberately false implications. The few true facts they actually include are usually only part of a framework to make a later lie seem more plausible.

The problem is that the average viewer doesn't have the skill, experience, or body of knowledge to parse out what is factual and what is complete and utter bullshit (ie, most of it), so are completely incapable of differentiating between truth and lies. Which means they'll generally accept what they're told at face value, because they lack the context to perceive the misinformation.

It's the same issue with "documentaries" which are heavily biased or deliberately manipulative - people hear the word "documentary" and assume what they're being told must be true, when it's either deliberately deceptive or inaccurate by virtue of incompetence. Which means they accept what they're told as being factual when it isn't. Which leads to them to construct worldviews and assumptions which are blatantly incorrect, which in turn can affect any number of possible decisions or choices they make in their future lives.

And science has proven that humans tend to believe the first things they hear on a given subject, and actively become resistant to facts that contradict those assumptions even when they're presented with definitive and objective proof that the first thing they learned was wrong. And attempting to disprove a mistaken assumption actually tends to make people believe those things even more.

In other words, shows like Ancient Aliens actively make people more ignorant. Because it's metaphorically building a shell around your brain that keeps facts and accurate history from getting in, while marinading your brain in nonsense that changes how you see the world and your place in it for the worse.

It's basically the social media of the TV world.