Democracy, at least in theory, relies on a rational electorate acting in response to credible information. Since the dawn of mass media, elections have been shaped by voters’ reactions to the news. But as I drove through the three states that decided the 2016 election by a little less than 80,000 votes, I sensed a … Read more
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. Attributed to various people A few months ago, this blog received the comment quoted below. As the administrator of my own WordPress blog site, I did not “approve” this comment to go online for … Read more
Charges of conspiracy (“fake news,” “rigged elections,” “deep state”) flow from the Trump White House constantly. They are disseminated by fast, broad-ranging, technologies, facilitated by media co-conspirators, and assented to by elected representatives who know better but remain silent. Today, conspiracism is not, as we might expect, the last resort of permanent political losers but … Read more
The tribally inclined audience … is contemptuous of outside fact-checking, no matter how assiduous, but endlessly gullible toward information shared on the inside. Consequently, it is an easy target. David Roberts When people voluntarily choose to severely limit their sources of information they are choosing to willfully blind themselves. Because people are easily drawn to … Read more
I was in a social situation the other day with a group of people I mostly knew. One of the guests, whom I didn’t know, was wearing a T-shirt that had a picture of an American flag. Above the flag it said, “Welcome to America.” Below the flag it said,”NOW SPEAK ENGLISH.” This shirt offended … Read more
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov The strain of anti-intellectualism among American Latter-day Saints has largely been captured and magnified by Trumpism. Distrust of experts and … Read more
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Ephesians 4:14 A few weeks ago, I received a two emails, within 45 minutes of each other, asking me to … Read more