Knowledge Gets Trumped

We went out to eat last night.  We didn’t mean to, but my wife works late and I was wrapped up in a project at home and suddenly it was almost 7:00, dark, and neither of us had thought about supper.  We agreed to meet at one of our favorite restaurants where the crowd tends to be younger, hipper, noisier and more “country” than we are.  Big screens around the bar have a variety of sporting events broadcasting, and the bar is well stocked with a variety of cold brews.  We are comfortable here, and on a Thursday night there were few other patrons vying for booths with peanuts, though the noise level always seems the same.  I arrived first and settled in a booth when a cute, perky brunette plopped in the bench across from me, introduced herself as Courtney (not her real name), and asked what I’d have to drink.  She bounced out of the chair to fetch my St. Arnold’s Lawnmower.  Three sips down, my wife arrived and engaged in that shorthand small talk I assume all couples of long-standing use to summarize our days for each other. 

Our summary may be somewhat different from most.  As a teacher she talked of kids, peers, and administration both local and central, and a general sense of panic that seems inexorably linked to school this season.  Too much to do, too little time, decisions made on behalf of others but motivated by self-aggrandizement.  I empathized, and sipped more beer.  My summary began with a quick rundown of the day’s events gleaned from reading CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and Yahoo news summaries on line.  It is my task as the retired person to keep us connected to current events.  Is was in the midst of bemoaning Trump’s latest solution for terrorism when Courtney arrived to solicit solid food orders, the liquid already at hand.  She surprised me, approaching innocently from my blind side.  I did not see her until my Trump stump was near complete.  I turned to her to find a look of real surprise on her face.

We dutifully recited our orders not once looking at the menus.  After scribbling on her pad she turned to me and said, “I take it you do not like Donald Trump.”

“It scares me to death that such an un-American person is running for the Presidency.”  I said.  Shock replaced surprise.

“Well, I do not keep up with politics.  My roommate works for a conservative Republican and I just thought that is how everyone around here thinks.  But I like Trump and hate Obama and Hillary.”

“Courtney, my dear girl, is this the first time you have ever actually talked with a liberal?” I asked.

“Yes, I guess it is.  I don’t know any.” 

And that is the scariest thing I have heard all year.  There may be a book in me describing my liberal beliefs.  I shall resist here.  I will say that accepting and even promoting diversity is a core tenant.  If Courtney had never heard conservative perspectives I would be equally upset.  Issues are issues because there are at least two sides, and unless we know both sides we are unlikely to resolve the issue with any hope of satisfaction.  Therefore, the best hope for our future is the education of everyone on every side of every issue.  Especially in a nation where we say “everyone” rules.

But that so sadly is not the case.  Courtney’s hatred of national figures was the result of a contagious attitude that seems to become fact when no opposing thoughts are offered.  If Fox news hates Obama and says so 3 times an hour, then it must not only be true, but justified to convey such hate.  I heard a fellow church goer lament that as his kids went to college they became more liberal, and for that reason he opposes higher education.  I have heard parents storm the school board because they perceived the “other side,” a.k.a., liberal, was identified and discussed in class.  I have actually heard school board members state they were elected to support community values, clearly implying they oppose any values other than their own narrowly defined values, and values that in no way reflect the entire community.  I have seen politicians with no less stature than our own Lt. Governor wage war on a curriculum that might introduce new ways of thinking about events in ways other than those around which his mind has been firmly closed.  I have seen textbook critics argue that some topics simply should not be taught, especially if they are based on science, not faith.  I have heard a GOP front runner declare that all people of a certain religious belief should be barred from entering our country.  I am horrified.  I am scared.  1984 has arrived and there is an official “right think” with the accompanying punishment for those who think otherwise.

Since when as a nation did we become so fearful of dialog, so fearful of fact, so fearful of knowledge?  When did we decide that diversity is not a strength but a communicable disease that must be eradicated?  Since when as a people did we decide there was only the conservative way and any other way is blasphemous?  Why are we so afraid and so angry that we see the solutions to problems as arming more citizens and stomping out all other ways of thought?  Have we gone crazy?  Have we forgotten, no matter who authored the quotation, “"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"?

It appears to me that we have entered an era of anti-intellectualism the likes of which I have never seen in my lifetime.  Despite ever increasing data to the contrary, people still fervently believe that giving more guns to citizens with virtually no restrictions is really OK; that foregoing a college degree is really OK; that burning fossil fuels is really OK; that discrimination by gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious belief, etc., is really OK; that allowing a small percentage of people to control most of the wealth while many are poor and hungry is OK; that hating our neighbors is really OK; that censoring conflicting ideas and thoughts is really OK.  One cannot honestly look at data and scientific research and support these beliefs.  Worse, if a person does not support these facts, they feel free to not only block the immigration of others, they feel free to block the voices who raise the questions.  It is as though they want to lynch the young boy who pointed out that the emperor is naked.

Liberals will likely always lose debates because we believe in the debate.  My conservative friends are very uncomfortable with the fact that other views not only exist, some of them are likely correct.  Liberals will defend alternative views and fight censorship.  Conservatives will not.  Liberals will act as good Samaritans, not good Nazis.  Liberals will celebrate and promote diversity, not initiate witch hunts.  Liberals recognize that our Constitution is a secular document, not a sacred religious text.

And I look up into Courtney’s eyes, a twenty-something year-old young woman attending a major university, and at first my jaw drops.  Somehow she has never met a liberal.  She has never heard the other side.  She looks at me as though I am an alien.  I do not know where to begin, sitting in this building of happy noise and free flowing alcohol, boots, country music and testosterone.  So I put on my wane mask of acceptance and weep at the risk to our democracy and the risk to our learning if we continue in these ways.  And I simply say,

“You have met one now.  I am not evil.  I am not stupid.  I read, write, think and care very much for America.  Perhaps you should seek to find others of my ilk.” 

That said, I tipped heavily and sauntered out to my pick-up truck hoping she would search for knowledge for a change, though such knowledge, such thinking, may change her life.  If not, then knowledge has been trumped by fear and closed minds, never a good thing in a democracy.  Always a good thing in an oligarchy or other totalitarian forms of government.  No one who chooses to censor people by belief, attribute, or thought can possibly promote democracy.  That’s right, I think Hobby Lobby, Chic Fil-A, Citizens United, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Donald Trump are un-American, not models to emulate.  Surely we will regain our senses and recognize that truth before it is too late.  Education is the cure for ignorance.  Let’s stamp out ignorance, not education.