Just Stop Being Dumb.

I am so tired of willfully ignorant people.

Have I written this blog before? 

I might well have but I don't want to go looking. 

Not because I don't want to know, but because the search feature doesn't work well and I would end up spending too much time reading things that don't have anything to do with what I am looking for. 

Which would be apropos of what I am so tired of, but not really what I want to encourage. 

I am a fan of facts. And it's shocking to me when I find out other people aren't. 

Now, I get it, on one level that doesn't really match up with me. I like fiction. I like making things up. I like exploring nuances and tilted world views and multiple ways of looking at things. But at the end of the day, if there is something that is a fact, it's a fact. 

And I am so tired of people thinking that facts are just things to ignore if they don't make you feel right or something to pay attention to only if they come from two select sources, and those sources are not the same as other people's sources, they are your own special sources. 

It's probably the only point that I ever agreed with the MAGAts about. Fuck your feelings. Though they weren't adding the part that I do. Fuck your feelings, this is a fact. They are firm believers in fuck YOUR feelings, but MY fact free feelings are perfectly valid and you should follow them. 

It makes me crazy.

I can remember the first time I posted a fact check for a conservative friend for something they had posted. I had my little Do Gooder Scout badge all shined up. Look at me helping someone out! And then they replied with the whole fact checkers are liars from the left and you can't believe them. Which I was like...no. See? They have references. They showed their work. You can see the original piece. You can see the real deal. It's not like they just posted "You Lied" and moved on. It's all here. But nope...it didn't matter.

I was shocked. 

Now I'm just resigned. 

I know if I post a fact check on a conservative post it will be dismissed and ignored. I often do it anyway because I figure anyone else reading the thread should know when I say, "that's wrong" I have a reason for saying that. And it's because...well...it's wrong. Facts matter.

Now we have the Trumpublicans trying to wish away the insurrection. It wasn't that big of a deal. It wasn't Trump's fault. It might not have even happened... When less than a month ago they were all singing a different song. There was a bright and shining moment where they actually believed what was in front of them. But then it was gone. Hell, Kevin McCarthy has now completely forgotten he even spoke out against QAnon repeatedly on camera and now he's pretending he hasn't even heard of them.

We also have voices from the left and the right trying to blame Biden for things or say he said things that he didn't or why hasn't he fixed everything yet, I mean he's been president for two whole weeks! 

Remember how much I hate the first 100 days nonsense? Now we are at the first 100 hours. If you haven't fixed everything by your first fortnight in office you are a failure. Oh my god...it doesn't work that way. You know it doesn't work that way. Hell, most of us can't even fix smaller problems in our own lives in two weeks let alone the big issues in the country.

Just stop being dumb. 

Or I should say willfully dumb. 

Dumb is fixable. Willfully dumb is a choice. 

And I don't expect all of us to view the world the same way. I don't expect us all to agree on everything all the time. It's just not the way the world works. And that's great. It would be a boring place to live if we all were in lock step all the time. But there should be a firm foundation of facts that we all can agree on. What you do with those facts can be different for sure. But people said something or the other or people did something or the other or this thing actually happened. That should all be easy. 

But it's not. 

If you can't make your argument without lying. Or developing amnesia about what you have said in the past. Or dismissing any actual facts that others show you, then you have a lousy argument. Work on it. Get back to me. 

Unless you are Kevin McCarthy and then I just have to say...who? I don't think I know you...