For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable—what then? ~ George Orwell, 1984. Continue reading Alternative Facts: Did Orwell Make This Stuff Up?
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they’ve been fooled.” — Unknown
“Beyond Lying: Donald Trump’s Authoritarian Reality,” The New York Times, Nov. 4, 2016, by Jason Stanley, Professor of philosophy at Yale, author of How Propaganda Works offers some of the most perceptive commentary on our current, frightening political situation. Continue reading Jason Stanley’s: “Beyond Lying: Donald Trump’s Authoritarian Reality”
Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy, François Lemoyne, 1737
Trump: “I believe that cows can jump over the moon.”
Question: “Is that really true?”
Pence: “He has a right to his opinion.”
Conway: “He is presenting an alternative fact.” Continue reading Do You Have A Right To Your Opinion? Trump & Millions of Illegal Votes
(This is my 500th post since beginning this blog in December 2013) Continue reading Shakespeare: But man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority …
In yesterday’s post I discussed the important and timely work of the Yale philosopher Jason Stanley How Propaganda Works.
Stanley also touched on a connected problem in his recent New York Times piece “Democracy and the Demagogue.” Stanley wonders why the old rules of at least appearing to be civil in political discussions no longer apply Continue reading Jason Stanley: “Democracy and the Demagoguery”
