Confirmation Bias

After we were on vacation for a week, there was a letter in the mailbox.

The letter was from our town, letting us know that our compost was attracting raccoons to the neighborhood. My husband and I were mad, sad, and perplexed. We have been here 5 years, doing the same stuff…if anything our yard is slightly better than it was when we moved here. The family that lived here before us had a long row of rabbits in cages outside (which I hate…rabbits in cages…why??!!! But that’s another rant for another morning).

Also, I took around the neighborhood and here’s what I saw: Rotting car on lawn, 20 foot skeleton statue holding a flag, broken down camper in backyard, somewhat working camper with family living in their friend’s yard since last fall, broken down trampoline and standing pool. Side story: I once stopped a little kid from shoveling the top off, of snow, in winter. Kid was looking at the pool, holding a shovel…looking at me as I was about to get in my car…and he kinda new it was a bad idea.

“[Name],” I said to him, “Please, don’t shovel off the top of your pool. It’s not safe. You could fall through the ice.” He wasn’t mad or anything. If anything, he looked relieved that an adult had talked…rather than yelled. I’m also aware of a neighbor that got arrested for selling meth. So, while I can’t see the meth, I know its here in our neighborhood where my family is inconveniencing everyone by turning banana peels, leaves, and egg shells back into dirt.

Not to mention the registered sex offender that lives up the hill and the unregistered sex offenders that live all around.

All this to say, one of neighbors called the town because they believed that our compost caused raccoons to come and destroy their sweet corn in their garden.

Confirmation Bias: “People’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs. This biased approach to decision making is largely unintentional, and it results in a person ignoring information that is inconsistent with their beliefs. These beliefs can include a person’s expectations in a given situation and their predictions about a particular outcome. People are especially likely to process information to support their own beliefs when an issue is highly important or self-relevant.” Source: https://www.britannica.com/science/confirmation-bias. I added the bold writing.

I’ve tried growing sweet corn, at our old house, and raccoons ate it. This is what attracts raccoons: delicious sweet corn!!!!!!! We didn’t even have a compost bin at that time. Raccoons have little paws that can grab and they are smart. But I get it. Our neighbors must of felt mad and looked across their yard, saw a couple egg shells and thought, “Aha!”

My husband used his natural ability to argue and wrote an evidenced-based letter back to the town. The compost remains, though we added a lid and $80 container that hopefully looks nice to people. We also moved it to the other side of the house, so the neighbors that were upset would not have to see it anymore at all.

For me, I’m sad for them, because they seemed to really enjoy gardening this year. I want to say, “Hey, don’t give up. Plant some things that raccoons don’t eat. Been there!” But now I have to just avoid them for awhile.

Hope your Saturday has moments of peace and joy!

Terra

Ps. Bonus rant: The dogs that live at the house that complained bark loudly at me EVERYDAY, EVERY TIME I leave my house to go to work and EVERY TIME I come home. “[Dogs names],” I say, “It’s okay. You know me. It’s okay buddies!” I don’t add: I’VE LIVED HERE FOR FIVE YEARS!!!!!