The only thing harder than changing someone else’s opinion, is changing your own opinion.
In this weeks Torah Portion- Va’eira we see Pharaoh’s behavior throughout the period of the plagues and it is perplexing. Despite the miraculous nature of the plagues and the devastation they wrought upon Egypt, Pharaoh refused to acknowledge God or to let Bnei Yisrael leave Egypt.
In the last year few years of divisive politics and opinions on vaccines we have seen each side believes the information in their own echo chamber. No amount of evidence can convince the one side to agree with the other side!
From this perspective, Pharaoh’s irrational and self-destructive behavior is just an extreme version of a common human condition, present within us all. If we find ourselves constantly confirming our own opinions and easily rejecting the evidence against, it may be time to take a step back and try to evaluate things on a deeper level. Perhaps our opinions are still correct, but to account for the confirmation bias, it may be wise to analyze and weigh the evidence in a balanced manner.
Shabbat Shalom (Parsha Vayeira)