Me: Something something…
A: That sounds just like what Trump is tweeting
Me: I don’t read Trump's tweets. I haven’t done for ages cause I find them annoying.
A: Well you better read them. Because the way you sound, is like what he’s saying. Your friends will look at you strange.
Me: But I’ve come to a conclusion about “something something” because of evidence I’ve seen and read. Am I supposed to change my view if it happens that Trump tweets something similar?
A: Where are you getting your information from?
Me: A range, left and right (NYT, WaPo, WSJ, CNN, CNA, BBC) and note that I’ve given up even switching to Fox because I don’t like its coverage (except for Gutfeld, which is truly funny). Also direct coverage by citizen journalists, eg vids in Twitter.
A: [changing subject]: I’m not political. I just go by the facts. (!)
Me: [missing the opportunity to say “and what if the facts you go by, happen to be also tweeted by Orange Man Bad? Would you then change your view?”]. And so what are the facts about “something something”? As far as you know.…
…and so it goes. We move onto a discussion of racism in America. Which I say, even if it’s still bad, has improved since slavery and Jim Crow. But which A would not acknowledge. Which I say is because their view is influenced by the narrative that America is irredeemably, systemically, horribly racist. (“Chronic, endemic and institutional” according to Andrew Cuomo). Not borne out by actual facts. A says it’s people emotional and angry. Indeed. Bit facts matter. Impasse.
The cognitive dissonance doesn’t hit me until later. Specifically the cognitive dissonance of claiming to be driven only by “facts”, yet, at the same time, claiming I ought change my views, even if they’re driven by facts, if it happens that Trump tweets something similar.
I have had a “stairway moment”. As in, you only realise “I should’ve said…” when you’re on the stairway on the way home.
