DON'T CONFUSE THEM WITH THE FACTS!

The following is an article, in full, that I came across today. It is a "must read" for all of us trying to make sense of the political world today!

Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist

Don't confuse them with facts
To listen to talk radio, to watch TV pundits, to read a newspaper's online message board, is to realize that increasingly, we are a people estranged from critical thinking, divorced from logic, alienated from even objective truth.

I got an e-mail the other day that depressed me.

It concerned a piece I recently did that mentioned Henry Johnson, who was awarded the French Croix de Guerre in World War I for single-handedly fighting off a company of Germans (some accounts say there were 14, some say almost 30, the ones I find most authoritative say there were about two dozen) who threatened to overrun his post.

Johnson managed this despite the fact that he was only 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds, despite the fact that his gun had jammed, despite the fact that he was wounded 21 times.

My mention of Johnson's heroics drew a rebuke from a fellow named Ken Thompson, which I quote verbatim and in its entirety:

"Hate to tell you that blacks were not allowed into combat intell (sic) 1947, that fact. World War II ended in 1945. So all that feel good, one black man killing two dozen Nazi, is just that, PC bull."

In response, my assistant, Judi Smith, sent Mr. Thompson proof of Johnson's heroics: a link to his page on the Web site of Arlington National Cemetery. She thought this settled the matter.

Thompson's reply? "There is no race on headstones and they didn't come up with the story in tell (sic) 2002."

Judi: "I guess you can choose to believe Arlington National Cemetery or not."

Thompson: "It is what it is, you don't believe either ... "

At this point, Judi forwarded me their correspondence, along with a despairing note. She is probably somewhere drinking right now.

You see, like me, she can remember a time when facts settled arguments. This is back before everything became a partisan shouting match, back before it was permissible to ignore or deride as "biased" anything that didn't support your worldview.

If you and I had an argument and I produced facts from an authoritative source to back me up, you couldn't just blow that off. You might try to undermine my facts, might counter with facts of your own, but you couldn't just pretend my facts had no weight or meaning.

But that's the intellectual state of the union these days, as evidenced by all the people who still don't believe the president was born in Hawaii or that the planet is warming. And by Mr. Thompson, who doesn't believe Henry Johnson did what he did.

I could send him more proof, I suppose. Johnson is lauded in history books ("Before the Mayflower" by Lerone Bennett Jr., "The Dictionary of American Negro Biography" by Rayford Logan and Michael Winston) and in contemporaneous accounts (The Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times). I could also point out that blacks have fought in every war in American history, though before Harry Truman desegregated the military in 1948, they did so in Jim Crow units. Also, there were no Nazis in World War I.

But those are "facts," and the whole point here is that facts no longer mean what they once did. I suppose I could also ignore him. But you see, Ken Thompson is not just some isolated eccentric. No, he is the Zeitgeist personified.

To listen to talk radio, to watch TV pundits, to read a newspaper's online message board, is to realize that increasingly, we are a people estranged from critical thinking, divorced from logic, alienated from even objective truth. We admit no ideas that do not confirm us, hear no voices that do not echo us, sift out all information that does not validate what we wish to believe.

I submit that any people thus handicapped sow the seeds of their own decline; they respond to the world as they wish it were rather to the world as it is. That's the story of the Iraq war.

But objective reality does not change because you refuse to accept it. The fact that you refuse to acknowledge a wall does not change the fact that it's a wall.

And you shouldn't have to hit it to find that out.

Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.'s column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: lpitts@miamiherald.com

FREEDOM OF SPEECH: A CONSERVATIVE POINT OF VIEW

Did you know that you are only allowed to express your opinion, your point of view to like-minded people? Are you aware that NOT including quotes, historical references, lists of books, and having a Thesaurus at the ready renders you totally brainless, incompetent, and having nothing of any social value to say? Did you know that having a 2000 word rebuttal/comment written on one of your blogs renders you worthless and ineffective? Yep. And since a member of the opposite sex told me that, it must be true. Right.................

I ventured upon a blog the other day, having come upon a link from someone. I was reading not-very-tasteful comments about Michelle Obama's initiative on childhood obesity. I'd even seen Glenn Beck's horrible, tacky, spiteful, rant on television about it. I wanted to throw up. No good thing our First Family does is ever without ridicule. (You know, that free speech thing.) The title of the blog was stupid, racist, and the picture on the page of the Obama's was even worse. I'm sure you've seen these, or tried to avoid them. I left a short comment on the stupidity of it, figuring I would be ignored as a "commie, liberal, socialist, left wing agitator." I'm really just a mom with a point of view, a sense of right or wrong, fairness, and a bit of dry humor.

Nope, I wasn't that lucky. A few days later I was castigated for my small grasp on current history, had my obvious lack of political knowledge ridiculed, given a library list of books to read (recommended by Glenn Beck), and had my unicorns and fairy dust taken away. (Nah, I made that last part up.) Then I was told I had a lot of nerve coming to his website. Just to make matters "worse", I noticed he was trying to get his readers to come to THIS blog to read what garbage an ill-informed, not socially aware liberal cretin was spreading. I think I touched a nerve.

It's always amazing to me how these oh-so-patriotic Constitution, Federalist Papers, tea partiers feel the need to belittle and "re-educate" others. A debate, or an exchange of ideas is fine. But having seen "MoBama's Fat Kids Part II complete with disgusting photoshopped picture I felt I didn't need to be educated by him about anything. Besides, I felt he was in love with the sound of his own computer keyboard, if you get the picture.

If you'd like to learn something (or not...) you might want to go to my blog on Glenn Beck from January. Like it's namesake, it pissed somebody off. My work here is done.

WHY FURTHER EDUCATION?

Sunday morning Tucker Carlson made a few comments on Fox News, it's been reported to me, about college students becoming more liberal as they continue their education and especially after they graduate. He then proceeded to suggest that not all people need to go to college, or at least get government help to do so, I assume. Hmmmm, I wonder what the correlation might be here.........( to see Fox News discussion http://bit.ly/bXNBLG )

At any rate, I believe this is what the outcome of THAT would be:



Lord have mercy on this country.....

UPDATE: Well, the trend continues: The state of Utah is considering abandoning the 12th grade, and the Republicans agree. They say that students "just fritter away their last year anyway." Now Colorado believes they can no longer provide higher education for their students; they'll have to go to private college, it seems. Who can afford THAT these days? Maybe these young people will just get sick, and since they'll not have health insurance to help with medical bills, they'll just forget about even trying. That'll make those on the right really happy!

WHAT'S GOING ON.....REALLY

People, please forgive me. I couldn't do my usual "insightful" commentary this morning. The video below is the best thing I have seen for a while: it puts into words and images all that I think is wrong with our political process today. I'm not an avid Rachel Maddow follower, but bless her on this one!





I've forwarded this to right leaning "friends": I'm sure they won't even watch it, since Rachel is, uh,........a......you know.

WE'RE IN TROUBLE, FOLKS

Yes, we are. The "dumbing down of America" is complete.


TPMDC
Poll: Republicans Think Obama Is A Socialist, And Palin More Qualified To Be President
Eric Kleefeld | February 1, 2010, 3:58PM

A new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll, conducted among 2,000 self-identified Republican respondents nationwide, gives an interesting peek into the psyche of the minority party's base.

Kos has not yet released the full numbers, but here's some early info on the poll that he has posted on his Twitter account:

• 39% of Republicans want President Obama to be impeached.

• 63% think Obama is a socialist.

• Only 42% believe Obama was born in the United States.

• 21% think ACORN stole the 2008 election -- that is, that Obama didn't actually win it, and isn't legitimately the president, with 55% saying they are "not sure." This number is actually significantly lower than it was in a similar question from Public Policy Polling (D) back in November, which said that 52% of Republicans thought ACORN stole it. So does this mean Obama is gaining ground among Republicans? As it is, only just over 20% of Republicans will say that Obama actually won the election.

• 53% think Sarah Palin is more qualified than Obama to be president.

• 23% want to secede from the United States.

• 73% think gay people should not be allowed to teach in public schools. This position puts the GOP base well to the right of none other than Ronald Reagan, who helped defeat the Briggs Initiative, a 1978 referendum in California that would have forbidden gays or people who advocated gay rights from teaching in public schools.

• 31% want contraception to be outlawed.



The right wingers have totally outclassed (??) us on this one. I cannot believe it is even possible to agree with this stuff. Don't people check facts at all? Has the average Tea Bag Party member become the symbol of the United States today? It's bad enough that the corporations (some with multinational owners) have been given the the go-ahead by our Supreme Court recently to spend all the money they can scrounge to run the political system in this country. But these are the people that will be benefitting. Raise your hand if you're scared.