Coming to the sad realization about our new ‘anti-fact’ society
I have to admit I’ve been suffering under an unnamed funk since the election. At first, I thought I might blame it on the election itself. Watching our country elect an elitist billionaire businessman with no political experience to represent lower middle-class white workers was such a disconnect that I thought maybe that’s what had me feeling down.
Then I saw a letter in your Dec. 28 issue (“Sick and tired of the arrogant left”).
Before the election, I liked to fool myself and think that the climate change deniers and the “if I believe it personally, then it’s true” crowd were a small minority in the U.S.
The author helped me realize that the reason this election has me feeling so low is that it now appears this “anti-science/anti-fact” (can I say “anti-reality”?) group is much larger than anyone expected.
Who knew there was such a large mass of Americans that can’t be bothered with facts?
So that’s what’s got me down. I just didn’t grasp that we’ve reached a point where critical thinking will be a minority attribute.
Thomas Bringle, Grover Beach
This story was originally published January 9, 2017 at 10:50 PM with the headline "Coming to the sad realization about our new ‘anti-fact’ society."