Tolstoy and Media Bias

As Alex Luxenberg quoted in his media bias presentation, Leo Tolstoy once said, "The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him." 

Since Alex made this quote in reference to the 2008 financial crisis, it reminded me of when I was watching the documentary Inside Job, which is about the 2008 crisis. I was watching the film assuming everything to be true since I had no real knowledge of the financial world or what caused the crisis, and my dad came into the room and watched for a little bit with me and kept complaining that the things they were saying were completely biased, and sometimes even untrue. It was my lack of knowledge about the financial world that allowed me to believe everything they said in the film, and not see the bias which was there.