Steve Benen has a post up at The Washington Monthly that hit home for me. Worth the read - [Click Here]. Here's an exerpt:
It's not especially surprising, of course. Reading this, it's hard not to think of the Ron Suskind classic when a senior adviser to then-President George W. Bush dismissed those who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.... That's not the way the world really works anymore. We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
If today's conservative Republicans reject reality, it stands to reason that they'll reject history, too.
But it's nevertheless a reminder of why conversations with those immersed in a right-wing ideology tend to be rather frustrating, if not futile, experiences. In order for political discourse to have any meaning or value, there have to be certain agreed upon facts that serve as a foundation for the dialogue. But as the McClatchy piece notes, that foundation is no longer stable -- conservatives frequently choose to believe versions of events that aren't real, because the make-believe version makes them feel better.
BINGO! This describes exactly the dilemma I find myself up against when I make any attempt at reasonable dialogue with right-wing friends or family. Facts are inconvenient things to them, even more so if those facts undermine the bedrock beliefs in whatever inanity they choose to ascribe to.
I've semi-retired from trying to bridge this intellectual gap -- perhaps after Obama's term ends and they see that Armageddon didn't occur and that not a whole helluva lot has changed in their lives, maybe (big qualifier type maybe) then they'll stop and genuflect on what intransigent assholes they've been and we can take another shot at the sane, civilized discourse thing. That's all I can hope for.
----k
No comments:
Post a Comment