Why the Right is Wrong

A lot of the issues that separate the Left from the Right are subjective or result only from differences in the definition of terms. In these cases there is no correct or incorrect position to take. Also if the final objectives are different there can rarely, if ever, be a consensus on the means. Should flag burning be outlawed? It depends on whether or not you believe freedom of expression usurps nationalism. Should gay marriage be legal? It depends on whether or not you believe individuals should chose their spouses or this decision should be dictated by the state. But some of the differences between the Left and the Right are objective. When it comes to decisions based on facts some right-wing partisans have chosen to bury their heads in the sand and tried to legislate reality. Science isn’t a democracy and sometimes no matter how much you want to believe something it’s just not true.

Giving President Bush the benefit of the doubt let’s say he really did believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was planning a covert midnight invasion of Miami Beach. After the Battle of Baghdad it became obvious that if the Iraqis actually did have all those weapons they would have used them in their own self-defense. It’s understandable that few wanted to admit the blunder. If Iraq didn’t actually pose a threat then America could be perceived as, at worse, an aggressor nation or, better but still pretty sad, the victim of astronomically bad intelligence. But on the other hand if you’re willing and capable of believing things that aren’t true you can go to bed with a clear conscience. After all the official investigations were completed it turned out Iraq didn’t have any illegal weapons and wasn't a real threat. Some reacted to the news by accepting the facts but many on the right chose to lie to themselves.

This is only one example of the right-wing’s self delusion, but it’s a doosey. With an estimated 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead and the largest U.S. military death toll since Vietnam one might conclude that the invasion was a blunder of Biblical proportions. Or one might claim that America was acting in self-defense; this isn’t true of course, but it can be claimed. The problem is an unwillingness of some people to involve themselves in introspection. If you don’t learn critical thinking at an early age chances are you’ll grow to adulthood and never be capable of objective reasoning. Self-criticism is an acquired skill, the lack of which is one of the defining characteristics of partisans on the right. It must be reassuring to go through life without ever acknowledging a mistake. When someone imagines himself to be the one perfect person living in the one perfect society he become something less human and more chimpanzee.

Speaking of chimpanzees, another example of the right-wing’s self delusion is the silly controversy over evolution. It’s sad that this is still going on in America. Anyone can do the research and find hard evidence that there is no debate among biologists about the truth of evolution. Its opponents are just trying to prove that the creation myths in the book of Genesis are actually history. One has to wonder if these people believe in geology, astronomy and all the other scientific disciplines that don’t mesh with their supernatural worldview. The number of Americans that believe the Earth was created less than 10,000 years ago by paranormal forces is hovering at an unnerving 55%. How can this be? Sure some people are just ignorant but it doesn’t take much investigating to see how amazingly misinformed the opponents of evolution are. Sure, if you’re extremely skeptical you can dismiss anything that’s not right in front of you but that’s not what’s going on here. The best arguments against the proponents of creationism should be their own “evidence.” Anyone can investigate their claims and find that they’ve all been answered years ago. In many cases the creationists are cherry-picking science or outright lying. They write in such a way as to mislead their readers, rely on bogus rhetorical tricks that could be used to prove anything and cling to logical fallacies. When exposed as charlatans they often don’t even revise their claims and seem content to fool children and the gullible.

Why are so many Americans not equipped to deal with objective reasoning? It involves coming to terms with the fact that we are all just average human beings like everyone else. It involves opening our minds to the fact that people we trust might be lying to us or are just plain stupid. It also involves weighing all sides of an issue in order to discover the truth and accepting the results even if they’re not pleasant.

by Stephen Smith