I.

True story:

A Facebook acquaintance shares a link accusing the government of doing something “immoral and corrupt.” It’s a link from one of those sites. You know? Not an actual news outlet, but PeopleAgainstTruthAndRationalThinking.com (btw, that URL is available if you’d like to claim it, you’re welcome). Someone calls her on it—says, um, “The source for this news isn’t real. I don’t think this news is real.” She comments back, “I don’t care. This government is immoral and corrupt and must be stopped.”

I fucking weep.

Truth is no longer just optional, it’s completely unnecessary. Nobody wants to learn, reconsider, reflect. They just want to feed their anger, fuel their demons—find support for what they already think. Facts be damned.

I am purposefully not telling you which level of government, from which region/country, she’s talking about—or which decision—because it doesn’t matter.

Facts don’t matter.

II.

My children devour YouTube vloggers and social memes. I am a killjoy. Deprogram.

“Interesting. What’s the source for that? Is that true or is that his opinion? So is he riffing off actual facts or is he making up shit? Let’s find out.”

“Mom, it’s just funny!”

“But if it’s funny and it’s not true—but it makes people think that it’s true—then… is that right? What do you think?”

Fuck. Has raising critically thinking humans always been this hard, or has the Internet made it exponentially harder?

III.

Not a true story, just my opinion, completely based on anecdotal evidence and unsupported by research or a systematic review of the evidence:

The Internet makes smart people smarter. And it makes dumb people dumber.

Wait. I didn’t mean to say that. Because nobody ever changed anybody’s mind by calling them stupid.

Oh, wait. It doesn’t matter. Nobody actually wants to have their mind changed anymore. Not even smart people.

IV.

Jane: OMFG, the world is ending.

Sean: And this is why we don’t let your Mom watch the news.

Jane: I’m going to bed with Jane Austen. OMFG. Wake me up in two decades. Or after the Apocalypse.

V.

True story:

Ender: My friend said…

Jane: Is it true?

Ender: No! But he said it!

Jane: But is it true?

Ender: He said it!

Jane: But sweetie, you know it isn’t true.

Ender: But he said it!

See?

VI.

So I’m thinking about buying PeopleAgainstTruthAndRationalThinking.com and then setting up a Patreon or crowdfunding campaign to protest or support something or other. Clearly, it doesn’t matter WHAT.

Because facts don’t matter.

Except… of course they do.

They must.

Truth is not optional.

And if the woman who lies for a living tells you that… you KNOW it must be true.

😉

“Jane”

PS I think I coined the term “reality deniers.” D’you think it will take off? Should I trademark it?