Fiction: Human Nature part 1292013

Whether they admit it or not, people are fans of fiction.  It is inescapable.

That's why there are so many conflicting and varied accounts and opinions on any topic.   For example, the debt situation and violence are issues which have all kinds of theories and statistics thrown out there.  Often the info is skewed or incomplete, but it fits the narrative.

If ten people came upon an automobile that had obviously gone over the cliff 300 feet above, but none actually witnessed the event, several scenarios would emerge in their imaginations.  Some would picture the driver intentionally going over the edge while others would assume drugs or alcohol was involved.

Some one might go so far as to create imaginary partial lives for the couple who died in the crash.  They must have been on their way home from the hooplah festival a few miles away.  And it sound like reasoned deduction, but it is still fiction.  If it turns out that it coincides will reality, that reinforces the process, which may or may not be on target the next time.

The origin of the theory is fiction born in the imagination.

If the item is newsworthy in that area, the details and even the number of people involved would change two or three times in 24 hours.  That's because people love to jump to a conclusion based on very little information, and they tend to be protective of their view, even in the face of facts or equally valid conclusions.  It is as if they are given an irresistible specific event and they create a path that explains how that came to be.

Another part of human nature is that few care to research a thing far enough that it blows their gut reaction theory out the window.  It is easier to take in hearsay.  Easier not to scrutinize sources and references.  Human nature things tend to often fit together hand in glove like that.

Fiction is both the easy, and maybe only, way to explain things, and the way toward working, workable theories.  When more facts come to light, then the theories change a bit in order to make sense of those things.  And it takes crafting a story in some form which explains it and ties things up until next time.

I think this universal facet of human nature is what Jerry Springer and some other TV hosts have exploited.  That thing where the audience weighs in on the drama of the people on stage after hearing a few sound bites.  "Yes, I think you should sell everything and go to Tibet", "You need to leave that man."  They don't know, but they made up stories to explain the creature before them. .  It is just the nature of the beast.