Facts Won’t Speak For Themselves
How did facts become such a conversation killer?
This the sixth post in a series on the pandemic and its impact on progress and problem solving. In the last post, we looked at uncertainty in science.
The gruesome toll should make the pandemic undeniably salient, undeniably factual. But the denials mount as fast as the casualties. In his latest of many statements downplaying the pandemic, Trump declared that 99% of COVID-19 cases are harmless.
You may think this a lamentable reflection on human nature (and you’d be right). But it’s also a comment on the nature of facts. I don’t want to dwell on misguided people behaving badly. I want to explore how reasonable people misrepresent facts and how this tendency leads to an impasse of the worst kind.
Here’s the cruel irony: Denialists succeed by treating facts just like facts should be treated. They argue facts as explanations. Granted, their explanations may be deplorable. But let’s focus on their methods, not the madness.
