Reality is respected on this here blog

Reality is a wonderful thing. Actually, the only thing. Show me something that isn't real, and I'll say "You've shown me nothing."

And that's what some commenters on this blog want to do: pretend they've got a fact in their hand when all they possess is an empty palm of subjectivity. 

Which, I'll admit, is something real.

But reality comes in two main varieties, communal/objective and individual/subjective. Both are wonderful, admirable, essential, inescapable. It's when an attempt is made to pass off one as the other that I, as moderator of this blog, rule "No way!"

Global warming and Obama's birth certificate are a couple of examples. Human-caused global warming is a fact. So is President Obama being born in Hawaii. 

These sorts of facts are communal. They can't be hijacked by anybody. Or at least, they shouldn't be. Politicians, almost always right-wing in this country, do try to proclaim what a fact is without demonstrable evidence to back up their assertion.

Such as...North Carolina legislators hope to pass a law requiring that global warming science be ignored when calculating the future sea level on the state's shores. Crazy.

I'm not interested in contributing to that sort of disrespect of our communal reality.

So that's why I don't publish comments that are clearly at odds with the facts. If a commenter has solid evidence that human-caused global warming isn't happening, publish it in a peer-reviewed journal. Maybe you'll get a Nobel prize. Likewise, if a commenter has solid evidence that Obama's birth certificate is fake, release it. Maybe you'll guarantee Romney's election.

But if all you have are links to some crazy non-factual web sites, forget about using this blog as your soap box. 

Because what the world needs now (and always) are people willing to agree on basic facts, even if they disagree about what the facts mean. This is how political discourse moves from meaningless name-calling to reasonable debate.

The Earth is warming. Because of what we humans are doing. These facts have to be agreed upon before we can discuss what this means. Maybe you think global warming will benefit people. OK, I disagree. Let's each bring out our arguments.

But if you want to ignore the scientific consensus about global climate change, there's no basis for an intelligent discussion. 

If we each have seen a movie, we can talk about what we liked and disliked about it. However, if I demand that you seriously consider my opinion about a movie that I'm clueless about, you have a right to say, "You're acting crazy."

Craziness can be fun, but not when it is masquerading as reality. That way lies madness, when someone demands that other people embrace their unreal view of the world. If you like country music, fine. I don't. We can agree to disagree about our likes. 

Opinions are different from facts. You're entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts. Sometimes the line is blurry between them. With issues like global warming and Obama's birthplace, the line is clear. 

Which is why I won't allow comments on this blog that try to pass off opinion as fact, when the facts are crystal-clear. Yes, facts can change. Until this occurs, though, a fact is a fact, and an opinion is an opinion.

Human-caused global warming is a fact. So is Obama's U.S. citizenship. If you want to say otherwise on the WWW, do it someplace other than this blog.

 

Comments

[DJ]

What a funny satirical post, Brian! Man, you really had me going there. I even did a double take to make sure I hadn’t landed at The Onion.

It’s a hilarious concept – a discussion blog where the moderator posts the ‘basic facts’ and the ‘willing people’ are allowed only to ask questions that will help them become better ‘commune’ with the ‘basic facts.’ You could call it ”This Here Brave New Blog.”

It would also make a gut-busting SNL skit mocking North Korean internet…SNL could even make it into a North Korean game show…a ‘willing contestant’ that falls out of line and asks a question that undermines the ‘communal facts’ would receive penalty points and an extended stay busting rocks at a work camp! SNL already does some excellent North Korean satire…you should send the idea to Lorne Michaels. Horatio Sanz does a decent Kim Jong Il…he could guest host and play Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader and All Powerful Game Show Discussion Blog Moderator.

Keep the commie satire coming, Brian!

Sincerely,
Big Oil

[Brian Hines]

DJ, you speak like a true anti-science zealot. Call someone a commie when you have no reasonable response. Thanks for making my point about how right-wingers today are so out of touch with reality, they consider mainstream science to be "truthiness" that people are free to accept or not.

Ever heard of people who deny their children essential medical care because they don't believe in modern medicine? We've had several cases here in Oregon where kids have died because the parents believed they had a right to their own reality.

Juries and judges have disagreed. Thankfully.

Unfortunately, science deniers like you have the same attitude toward the Earth. To hell with the facts about global warming, species extinctions, dying oceans, and so on. You consider that you have the right to let the habitability of the Earth die for selfish economic and political reasons.

Well, you don't. People should be free to screw up their own lives through false beliefs, but not other people's lives. That's the basis of Oregon's law that prohibits parents from denying necessary medical care to their children.

I have the same attitude toward scientific diagnoses which show that humans are endangering the health of our planet. Neither you, nor anybody, has the right to substitute falsehoods for the truth when it comes to life and death decisions.

You're free to call me a commie -- I wear that word like a badge of honor when I'm called it by ignorant people -- but you're not free to make up your own reality.