And we could go on, and on... --- It is amazing to think how these predispositions of ours can end up creating a whole story or parallel reality. The linked ideas of the journalist leaving because the president entered the room can lead to someone concluding that a) the president does not like that particular journalist because he has "attacked him" before; b) the president does not like journalists at all, leading us to think he is not open to media and thus not democratic; c) the journalist left because the president had kept him waiting so long that now his story will be how the leader of the nation does not care about public opinion... and so on. Well nourished and with very creative imaginations, these preconceptions may end up in rumors or conspiracy theories that could have potentailly dangerous consequences.

Source author: Desirée Colomé Menéndez dcolome@sre.gob.mx