Hebraic Musing – Do
people really want to hear? Or
‘The Normalcy Bias’
Awhile back we mused on the blessing
that we can bestow by ‘listening’. The key question was “Does a friend talk or
listen?” We learned that the challenge
is to listen more and talk less; but the flip side of that musing is dealing
with people who do not want to hear? God
explained to Isaiah that he was dealing with an obstinate nation, obstinate
people who did not want to hear.
Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, … Then God reveals the nature of these
obstinate people as Isaiah describes them in chapt.30, v.8 “Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting
witness. These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to
listen to the LORD's instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!”
and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us
pleasant things, prophesy illusions.”
In summary, people in Isaiah’s time, and
maybe some in our time, are saying ‘Write pleasant things and stop telling us
what God might be trying to say.’ When a person first hears unsettling
prophetic words, they tend to set it aside or explain it away. But after the
words are written down, they might look at it again and hopefully the Spirit of
God begins to beckon.
Similarly as WWII began in Germany the
Jews knew full well they were in trouble and there was adequate warning, but ‘The
Normalcy Bias’ set in. Definition - ‘The Normalcy Bias’ refers to a mental state people enter when
facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a
disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations
where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster,… the assumption is that
since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results
in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with
a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not
experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most
optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious
situation.[1]
Points to ponder
I
wonder how often the watchman wept
as he realized the people ignored the alarm?
as he realized the people ignored the alarm?
Could
our nation be suffering from ‘The Normalcy Bias’?
Yosef a.k.a. Joe Brusherd May
8, 2012
Weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings” blogging at InsightsByYosef.blogspot.com
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