Being Right and Being Responsible

By Greg -
There's been a lot of new slogans to help us cope with Trump's assault on smug and superior liberalism. One is attributed to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, that "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts," which has been reduced to the slogan, "Facts matter. " We who are educated use facts to win arguments and have grown accustomed to shaming enemies simply by citing some authoritative source. But it's a strategy not so very different from religious orthodoxies citing scripture. Scientific facts and academic consensus are perhaps even less self-evident than religious dogma, and it should come as no surprise that the un-initiated at the margins of our cities and college campuses would one day simply refuse to accept our facts as valid and authoritative. But what really irritates the court and its educated courtiers is their refusal to play by the rules, to engage the Inquisition in the rational arguments designed to render the opposition false. Moynihan was right. Facts aren't owned by the individual; they are established by fiat or consensus, and sometimes both. But they aren't necessarily irrefutable. Facts are more often than not used as axiomatic stepping stones in arguments designed from the outset to establish a pre-conceived point, and eventually the underclass who have been oppressed by these airtight arguments rebel by letting the air out. It's a messy and destructive process, with the reputable and sincere taken down along with the false and irresponsible. But that will be the pattern so long as being right is more important than being responsible.

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