I posed this question to a co-worker, “If you heard a well-known person say that his father served in World War II, when there was no way he would have been old enough, would you lambaste that person as a liar or would you say, ‘Hey, that makes no sense for him to say that. There must be something wrong here.'” Jokingly, the co-worker responded that it depended on the person who said it. I retorted that it shouldn’t matter, who it was. Just the fact it didn’t make sense should raise flags that you should look into this before passing judgement.

Although, he would probably be careful about spreading half-truths and misinformation, his answer highlights what a large number of people do, as evidenced by the Internet; to unquestioningly believe those in their same ideological group.

One would hope that the mere fact that it doesn’t make sense to make such a blatant lie that it would cause one to do a little research to see if the speaker misspoke.

Many times, this is not what people do. They may not even be consciously aware that they give certain people the benefit of the doubt, while with other people they are quick to assume the worst, no matter what it is. This, of course, is called in-group/out-group bias. We all do this to differing degrees. It is a part of human nature; protect the family and the larger group in which you live.

Undoubtedly, politics is one of the areas where in-group/out-group bias is shown on a regular basis.

Of course, the example that I used in questioning my coworker refers to President Obama. During the 2008 campaign, Obama said in a speech that his father had served in World War II. There is an email that lambasted Obama as being a terrible person for disrespecting those who have served in the military, with such a blatant lie that couldn’t possibly be true. In the email there is a link to a YouTube video snippet of the speech.

Simply, going no further than looking at the Wikipedia, one would learn that President Obama’s grandfather served in World War II. Instead of researching, they use their out-group bias to simply believe the unbelievable.

After knowing that his grandfather served in World War II, you would think that one would ask themselves, “What would President Obama gain by stating such an obvious lie, when his grandfather had served in World War II?” The simple truth is “nothing.” So, why would he lie about his father when he could just mention the service of his grandfather? It doesn’t make sense and he had nothing to gain to lie, so it is more likely than not that he made a mistake.

What’s even more ignorant and illustrates my point of out-of-group prejudice is shown in the comments that were left on YouTube for the video. There were those who pointed out President Obama’s obvious slip, but many still would not listen to reason. One person said that they would never mistake their grandfather for their father. Really? So I ask you, how many times have you given speeches in front large crowds, let alone in front of crowds, with TV cameras sending your speech to millions of homes all over the country. I think nervousness and fatigue may make you slip up a time or two. All of that aside, I cannot count the times I have been called my older brother’s name by my father. My wife is constantly calling our son by her brother’s name. And President Obama couldn’t possibly have made a mistake?

I notice in his 2012 nomination acceptance speech, he correctly mentioned that his grandfather served in World War II, not his father. Let’s try to not fall into the trap of accepting everything that affirms your in-group/out-group biases. Well, at least, not for the easy ones to catch.