Heard It First Fallacy ☕ 🔥 You Don't Know Everything! #fallacy #bias

Coffee and Nuance Live with Tom Coffey Live show from Portland, Oregon

The "Heard-It-First Fallacy" is the mistaken belief that if something important or true were happening, it would naturally be widely reported and known. People who fall into this trap dismiss new or unfamiliar information simply because it hasn't crossed their radar or been validated by mainstream sources. This fallacy stems from an overreliance on conventional channels of information—such as news media or popular opinion—and a failure to recognize that not all significant truths are immediately, or ever, broadcast to the public.

It reflects a passive approach to knowledge, where individuals assume that if something were valid, they would have already heard about it from the sources they trust, rather than exploring the information themselves. The fallacy creates a blind spot for emerging, complex, or underreported truths and locks people into a comfort zone, where only widely accepted narratives are deemed credible.

The danger of the "Heard-It-First Fallacy" is that it discourages curiosity and critical thinking, fostering a mindset where people equate lack of exposure with inaccuracy.