A supporter who places Galatasaray at the center of his life turns his sense of belonging to the club into not a simple hobby but an existential ground. In fact, if you search for “the meaning of life,” you may even come across a chant they have made up saying “The meaning of life is Galatasaray.” The team ceases to be a sports organization and becomes a part of the self. Through the filter of confirmation bias, the person accepts information that confirms this belief and ignores what refutes it. Claims opposing the belief are perceived as threats to the self, and the individual clings even more tightly to the club, displaying a backfire effect. Considering the thousands of hours spent over the years, the person insists on the belief by saying “Cimbom never gives up,” falling into the sunk cost fallacy so that the effort will not feel wasted. Faced with more meaningful pursuits in life, corruption in football, and poor management, the individual experiences cognitive dissonance, but resorts to excuses such as “because of external enemies,” engaging in motivated reasoning. Most of us choose belief perseverance in many areas of life. This status quo bias is part of the cognitive economy we inherited from our ancestors.
The Human Legacy
When we are curious about the cause of any phenomenon, we should also be curious about our own causes. Life did not begin with the individual’s personality. As the final letter of a process billions of years old, we should question whether we truly even possess a “personality” of our own. What kind of legacy have we inherited? Which branch are we a continuation of? These questions should remain somewhere in the back of our minds whenever we think.
Legacy is not what is most perfect, but what survives. Our sexual desires exist because those who reproduced continued their lineage. Our concern for status exists because we live in relation to others and build societies. Our anger exists because we fought and prevailed over others. The Galatasaray identity is also such an inherited form of belonging. Those who did not try to belong to a group did not survive. Likewise, binding oneself to one’s own group in competition with other groups is an existential tendency. Not praising the rival team even when it plays better, feeling shame on behalf of one’s group, and reacting emotionally all rest on a vital internal dynamic.
The Origins of Persistence
How might persistence have provided an evolutionary advantage? After all, does persistence in false intelligence not lead to wrong decisions? We must remember that for billions of years, there was no science. Correct intelligence and accurate information were not important. For most of the past, conformity with the group and social relationships mattered more. Since everything in humanity’s social construction is a form of “fabrication”—a process of fiction and construction—preserving the status quo has almost functioned as a niche advantage of the social human lineage. The search for meaning, values, and visions has been built not on scientific data but on social constructions. It is not possible to build the future with science alone; the future must be “made up.” At the very least, we can say that we are the descendants of humans capable of believing in a future without any data.
The Construction of Personality and Society
We expect both individuals and societies to express themselves and to develop. Passive structures shaped solely by their environment are not welcomed by either society or the individual. Are discoveries and inventions not themselves attempts at “fabrication”? In the past, we benefited from persistence in belief. Every future-oriented endeavor can succeed only through persistence. In any literary fiction, it is not constantly stated that the story is false; on the contrary, it is treated as if it were real. Individuals, too, persistently sustain their fabricated personalities.
What Should Be Done About Persistence?
If people defend falsehoods against correct intelligence and move toward wrong actions, they must first pay a price. If they do not pay the cost of enlightenment and knowledge, we once again devalue truth through an attitude inherited from our ancestors. Look at how democracy, patriotism, justice, and equality of opportunity have been used throughout world history. Truths begin to function wrongly in the hands of the wrong people.
One should not force someone who does not want to be enlightened or does not want to change. If they come seeking help after facing painful consequences, then we can help. Any other attempt at persuasion is either an effort to strengthen one’s own position or the result of ignorance. World history is full of massacres justified by rhetoric about doing good for others. Before doing good, trying not to disrupt what already exists may be the best path for everyone. As an evolutionary legacy, individuals endowed with persistence in belief are unfortunately incapable of knowing whether they are right or not.
