Conspiracies and Friends

Confronting Truth

Recently I had a friend write to me lamenting the loss of friendship over politics and conspiracies. There was a time when friends could disagree over politics and still be friends, and still have respect for each other. For some, that has become impossible. My friend wrote that their Trumpian politics caused a divide that had become a chasm. He's mourning the loss.

I wrote him this response:

I've found the only thing I can really do when I get into a conversation with a conspiracy theorist is listen. I'm still firm on my points, but confronting them with the facts won't change much. They need to reach a point of critical thinking on their own. For some, reaching that point may be too late. Think about how COVID is decimating the unvaccinated. The realization comes in the moments before death.

80 million eligible persons remain unvaccinated because of deliberate misinformation. The rate of infection is now the highest it has ever been. These are people who believe there are alternative facts.

Booker T. Washington had an understanding of the sad truth behind populism.

  

"A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority.”

Our friends from Ripon have no excuse. Our experience at a liberal arts college was supposed to make us critical thinkers. Did they waste that opportunity? Now, their views have broader implications because they're putting all of us at risk.