It seems absurd to think that someone ever said the Earth was flat or that the Earth was the center of the universe. However, as I go back and reflect on my thoughts, it is easy to say that I would never believe such things now, because someone has already challenged the conventional wisdom for me. But let’s just say that the Flat Earth Theory was still accepted to this day, would I go against the social norm and decide to challenge the beliefs of many well-known scholars? I think John Kenneth Galbraith, the creator of the term “conventional wisdom”, explained it best in The Affluent Society when he wrote, “ We associate truth with convenience, with what most closely accords with self-interest and personal well-being or promises best to avoid
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Well Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner disclosed within the text an example of just this. Many Atlanta police departments were underreporting crimes to make it seem as if there city was less violate in order to land the 1996 Summer Olympics. They needed to shed their violent image, and fast. However, they still continued to lie about crime reports even after the 1996 Summer Olympics were over. This is just another example where reliable sources lie to get what they want. Around the same time period as this, other city’s police departments were interested in something different. They focused their attention on trying to find a way to put an end to the dealing and use of the drug crack cocaine. But with that, police portrayed to the public an image through the media, which made it seem as if all drug dealers were making millions and had state of the art weapons. This made them seem unstoppable. The police force’s intention for portraying drug dealers as millionaires was so they could receive the funds that the department requested to put an end to this crack cocaine out break. This raises the question that the chapter begins with. Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? The answer to this is that they do not make as much as we believe they do, therefore they cannot afford their own homes. We got this idea that drug dealers made millions of dollars through these police departments ploys, and
Well Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner disclosed within the text an example of just this. Many Atlanta police departments were underreporting crimes to make it seem as if there city was less violate in order to land the 1996 Summer Olympics. They needed to shed their violent image, and fast. However, they still continued to lie about crime reports even after the 1996 Summer Olympics were over. This is just another example where reliable sources lie to get what they want. Around the same time period as this, other city’s police departments were interested in something different. They focused their attention on trying to find a way to put an end to the dealing and use of the drug crack cocaine. But with that, police portrayed to the public an image through the media, which made it seem as if all drug dealers were making millions and had state of the art weapons. This made them seem unstoppable. The police force’s intention for portraying drug dealers as millionaires was so they could receive the funds that the department requested to put an end to this crack cocaine out break. This raises the question that the chapter begins with. Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? The answer to this is that they do not make as much as we believe they do, therefore they cannot afford their own homes. We got this idea that drug dealers made millions of dollars through these police departments ploys, and