The Conservative Curse of Gullibility

Our good friend Jerry over at Grumpy’s Grumblings has a post that I’d like to share with you. I’ve included a link at the end to continue reading on his site. Thanks Jerry!

Ronald Reagan said, “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” When he said that I absolutely agreed with him. Liberals live in a fantasyland where beliefs supersede facts, I believed. What my bias prevented me from seeing at the time was that what might be true, to some degree, of liberals was to a much greater degree true of me and my conservative compatriots.

Sure, every human tends to succumb to confirmation bias, but I’ve come to see that it’s also true that we can overcome those biased beliefs through open-mindedness and objective, fact-based education. And, as I’ve increasingly observed, liberals—generally being better educated—are more likely to approach issues with an open mind and a willingness to base their beliefs and decisions on objective data.

Unsupported Conservative Claims

These thoughts whirled about in my mind as I recently spent a few hours sequestered in a car with close friends who are avid Trumpists. Throughout the long drive, the radio was tuned to conservative talk shows. Among the many ludicrous claims I heard the hosts and guests make were 1. George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose, not from loss of oxygen caused by Officer Chauvin’s knee cutting off his air supply, and 2. “Democrats want to create a police state and take away all our rights.”

Both of those claims are demonstrably false. Let’s assess each of them:

1. Among those making the George Floyd overdose assertion are Fox News, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Kanye West (who has now admitted his error and apologized for it). But the radio show I was subjected to had as its guest the author of a book carrying the title, They’re Lying to You: The Media, The Left, and the Death of George Floyd.

a. The author, Liz Collin, was a prominent reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune while, simultaneously, her husband, Lt. Bob Kroll, served as president of the Minneapolis police union. Both Collin and Kroll sought to keep their marital status and potential conflict of interest from the public.

b. Collin and Kroll are both stalwart law-and-order supporters as long as the subject is protests over police brutality. Lock up the protestors—“terrorists” according to Kroll—and throw away the key. But let the crickets chirp when club-wielding anarchists attack the Capitol Building in an attempt to overthrow a legitimate election.

c. Collin and Kroll are both, not surprisingly, avid Trump supporters.

d. Collin’s new book—the one mentioned above—begins with these disclaimers:

“Author, editor, and contributors to this book shall not be held liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information, opinion, commentary claim, or suggestion contained within this publication. This creative work does not intend to defame any of the subjects, persons, organizations, and other entities mentioned herein. The facts, figures, sources, data, and references contained herein have been vetted; however, the publisher, author, editor, and contributors offer no claim or guarantee to the veracity and accuracy whatsoever and assume no liability for the consumption and use of the visual and textual information contained within this publication.”

In case some of that bloviating blew past you, here’s a one-sentence summary: “Don’t hold us responsible for any inaccuracies and/or outright lies you will read in this ‘creative work.’” Did you catch that term in the book’s disclaimer? It’s a creative work. There is a legitimate genre known as creative nonfiction; its purpose is to present true stories based on verifiable facts in an engaging style that reads more like fiction. But if a work of creative nonfiction really is based on verifiable facts there should be no need for an extended disclaimer such as the one included in Collin’s book.

To continue reading, please click here: Grumpy’s Grumblings