Um, this may be a somewhat… you know, touchy subject if you have chosen people like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Keith Olbermann, and Rush Limbaugh as your intellectual guiding lights.

 

There are others, Conservatives AND Liberals, but these folks are the cable network household names.

 

But, actually, it’s not so much about THEM as it is about their listeners and/or viewers, without which THEY’D probably be vying for some of those jobs they accuse all the illegal immigrants of taking from Americans.

 

I had a very interesting conversation with a good friend the other day. He seemed convinced that the mood in this country could turn around in short order if the likes of these TV/radio personalities simply shifted from partisan extremes to objective analysis.

 

Of course, I disagreed and I did so for two reasons. In the first place, I’m a scientific researcher, a skeptic. I take nothing at face value, especially claims for which scientific evidence is… um, iffy. It’s what WE skeptics DO!

 

In the second place, I think I CAN prove the point I made to my friend: the people who watch/listen to these talking heads aren’t interested in objective analysis.

 

In their minds, THEY, themselves, constitute the epitome of objectivity. They do NOT see themselves as “fringies,” LEFT or RIGHT. As well, their minds are already made up and they’re not about to permit a few facts to confuse things.

 

Politically oriented objective reasoning’s death spiral began back in the late ’40s and early ‘50s. It sped up considerably throughout the ‘60s, ’70s, and ‘80s, and began its vertical plunge in the ‘90s.

 

It hit the ground hard after major components of the Democratic Party concluded that George Bush “stole” the 2000 election with a little nudge from a Conservative U. S. Supreme Court.

 

It’s been bouncing and creating deep craters since Barack Obama won the last Presidential election. Paybacks are hell, ya know!

 

Today, there are virtually no such things as political objectivity, the good of the country, or honest-to-goodness reasonable compromise. Where it’s going to take us from here remains to be seen; but it does NOT look good.

 

For the record, though, I do not think any of the TV/radio personalities I’ve mentioned are stupid. These people live and die by the ratings and ALL of them are experts at maintaining them; it’s what THEY do.

 

Simple irrationality does not begin to explain the phenomenon, either. It’s part of it, but a small part. The big part is the way “fringies” employ something called “motivated reasoning.”

 

And, its longevity depends on how much longer our news outlets, national and local, continue to elevate conceptual “science” to the status of legitimate points of view. Here’s how it works.

 

Conceptual Science is advocating PRE-research CONCLUSIONS while preemptively dismissing ALL factual contradictions to them. A majority of humans have been doing it for eons. It’s an essential part of dogmatic religious beliefs.

 

Normal people, however, are always open to reconciling what they have come to believe with the facts as they are. In other words, they alter their beliefs to fit the facts.

 

However, ideologues are not capable of doing this. They get to a point where their opinions start to define them. Eventually the separation between fact and fiction disappears altogether; they’ve become what they believe.

 

Ultimately, they’ll seek only those with like beliefs, while shunning, at almost any cost, those with dissimilar ones, no matter how strong the contradictory facts.

 

Selective interpretation of facts is a way of life for ideologues. They’re experts at doing it. No matter how ridiculous and contorted their logic, these people are going to do whatever it takes to keep the point on THEIR message.

 

Furthermore, they’ll completely dismiss all contrary opinions no matter how compelling. The more people try to reason with them, even to the point of presenting contrary verifiable evidence, the more intransigent they become in their preconceived notions.

 

It’s why people, millions of them, still believe that God created the world on October 23, 4004 BC, precisely at nightfall on the preceding night, no less. And, that humans coexisted with dinosaurs; and that the Flintstones was an animated cartoon documentary.

 

It’s why they flock to the Creationists Museum in droves. Here’s an excerpt from their web page located here.

 

“The state-of-the-art 70,000 square foot museum brings the pages of the Bible to life, casting its characters and animals in dynamic form and placing them in familiar settings. Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden. Children play and dinosaurs roam near Eden’s Rivers. The serpent coils cunningly in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Majestic murals, great masterpieces brimming with pulsating colors and details, provide a backdrop for many of the settings.”

 

Ministers climb aboard church pulpits and preach this stuff… with a straight face, expecting their “flocks” to believe it.

 

I attended one such worship session. It was amazing. I asked the minister afterwards how he and others of his faith reconciled their beliefs against a multitude of contrary scientific evidence, the fossil record to name just one.

 

He told me; “God placed all of that there in order to test our faith in Him. And, YOU, sir, seem to be flunking the test.”

 

Today, more so than ever before, Armageddon sells newspapers. It, along with controversy, cynicism, sex, and violence boots TV and radio talk-show ratings.

 

The likes of Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, along with a slew of locals, know this all too well.

 

The only differences between the locals and nationals are money and talent. The locals possess little of the former and some of them possess absolutely none of the latter.

 

A 78-year-old great grandmother of three told me, in no uncertain terms, that “Glenn Beck gets it.” And, you know what? I agree with her to the extent that he knows there is a lot of anger in this country, especially now.

 

And he’s an expert at using cynicism, issue distortion, and phony tears to exploit the fringies. He, the others I’ve mentioned, and myriad others I’ve not mentioned, all know that objectivity does NOT boost ratings.

 

If you’re gay, male or female, some of you may take offense at what follows. I hope not; I’m not writing it to disparage gays in any way. But, here it is just the same.

 

No one, but NO ONE, is ever going to convince me that Sean Hannity wouldn’t rather be seen leaving a gay bar at closing time than admit that a Liberal idea has even a tinsy bit of merit.

 

It all combines to conclude that Conservatives are out to destroy the environment, outlaw homosexuality, and remain at war with our enemies for whichever reasons they can dream up.

 

And, that Liberals want to kill unborn babies, save the environment—even if it means killing some of us—turn the rest of us gay, and tax us to death by converting the country to socialism.

 

At all costs, the prime directive is to make the other side look as silly as possible, all the while employing convenience as the imperative and truth as an option.

 

ALL of this, of course, receives constant validation through a newfound, more vigorous PRE-conceived scientific method, an unfaltering motivated reasoning in support of stupid beliefs, along with a national and local media that can’t seem to tell the difference between facts and factoids.

 

WE’RE in DEEP you know what. Lord, if you’re out there, take me NOW!

 

Joe Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. You may comment on his column by clicking here.