Beyond the absurdity above, the front-page fake news also included references to Brad Pitt in Fight Club, fabricated savings to rate payers totaling $80 million, and a non-existent 280-page manifesto titled What Whaste Whanganui?
Additionally, the article was credited to Rapil Loof.
Despite this ridiculosity, an out-sized portion of the Whanganui community believed the article's truthiness. I've heard stories of panic and phone calls among elected officials.
One Council hopeful later told me he did not doubt the content of the article. In a letter to the Chronicle Joy Hay asked, "what is the joke?"
It was April 1st, ratepayers would soon be dishing out an additional $38 million for a 'do-over' sewage treatment plant, the contentious issue was in the Chronicle constantly, and a local body election was months away. That was the context for the joke. The "H" reference and Brad Pitt were the whipped cream and cherry on top.
What I didn't realize at the time is the extent to which many people don't see beyond their established stereotypes and prejudices when processing information. Recent research by social scientists found that partisanship influences peoples' views on some issues not based on the issues themselves but based on who presents them.
In part of the experiment the researchers presented generic quotes to participants in three ways: not identifying the speaker; misidentifying the speaker; and, identifying the speaker. Although the sentiment of the quotes was essentially the same whether the source was Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, participants tended to align their responses with their political affiliation. In other words, the messenger appeared to have more influence than the message.
Although these findings are especially concerning to journalists and researchers, they should also be of concern to anyone serious about working across party lines to address significant problems facing society whether social, economic or environmental. Effective problem solving requires more focus on policy and less on personality.
These findings appear to align with the increasing influence of confirmation bias due to social media and computer algorithms. According to Wikipedia, "Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses."
I recently listened to two hours of climate change deniers ringing in to Magic Mornings with Peter Williams. The experience was one of complete immersion in confirmation bias.
Of concern to me, confirmation bias stands in the way of evidence-based decision-making, which "helps people make well informed decisions about policies, programs, and projects by putting the best available evidence from research at the heart of policy development and implementation.
This approach stands in contrast to opinion-based policy, which relies heavily on either the selective use of evidence or on the untested views of individuals or groups, often inspired by ideological standpoints, prejudices, or speculative conjecture" (Philip Davies as cited by the International Centre for Policy Advocacy).
My observation over the last decade is that local governments in New Zealand, including our own Council, struggle to embrace evidence-based decision-making, and too often resort to opinion-based policy that results in wasted money and failed projects. This, my friends, is no joke.
* Mark Dawson is not touring with Fleetwood Mac. That would be Neil Finn. Mark is touring with Queen.
Dr. Nelson Lebo is an advocate for evidence-based decision-making and a sense of humour.
