House of Eratosthenes

I have noticed something about how some people treat beliefs which are personally important to them. When faced with uncomfortable facts, they do what I call “making up stories.”

I don’t mean they lie. Or rather they do, but they’re lying to themselves, and in a very particular way.

Some examples: About seven years ago, I was taking a course in the Polish city of Wroclaw. While there, I shared an apartment with an Englishman who had a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.

This fellow was convinced of every fashionable environmental catastrophe, including, of course, global warming.

I am skeptical about man-caused global warming for reasons not relevant here. In the course of our discussions, I mentioned that when I was working to launch a new college of science in Poland, I had come to know quite a few members of the Polish Academy of Science in the departments of chemistry, physics, paleobiology, etc.

I told him that not one of these world-class scientists believed in man-caused global warming.

He replied, “That’s because their jobs depend on defending the oil companies and denying global warming.”

To begin with, that’s not true. On the contrary, the Polish government at the time had no concerns about global warming. They had too many real problems to deal with. And he was a stranger to Poland who couldn’t have known one way or the other.
:
In my newsroom not long ago, I brought up on my computer screen a picture of President Obama shaking the Emperor of Japan’s hand and bowing low.

I showed this to a colleague and said that our president had really stepped in it again, after the flap about bowing submissively to the King of Saudi Arabia, then and treating the Queen of England with undiplomatic familiarity.

“What’s wrong with that?” she asked.

I pointed out that American presidents — heck, American citizens — do not bow in submission to any foreign monarchs. There are long-established diplomatic courtesies appropriate for citizens of a free country, which show respect for but not submission to foreign monarchs — courtesies our president entirely omitted when meeting Queen Elizabeth II.

Furthermore, I said, in Japan bowing has gradations and subtleties indicating relative status, that non-Japanese seldom get right. Foreigners doing business in the country are generally advised not to try.

She replied, “Well maybe he’s creating a new custom, blending the customs of America and Japan.”

And when we go to the movies, we see they’re chock full of ninety-pound women karate chopping three hundred pound men through brick walls. It defies lots of laws of physics, but it makes (certain) people feel good.

Funny thing is though, that reality is what makes you feel good — if, and only if, reality is connected in some way to your continuing survival. If you’re about to crawl under a car, nothing will make you feel good short of solid evidence that the jack is going to hold it up. We conflate reality with fantasy when we’re able to. When we can afford it.

And this is, in a nutshell, why progressive politics become more popular as communication becomes more efficient and technology becomes more advanced. It isn’t because the human race is evolving into a species of brilliant thinkers. It is because we become more comfortable, and with that comfort comes a capacity for tolerating nonsense.

And an ability to, should the need arise, manufacture some of it.

Cross-posted at Cassy’s place.

[…] Cross-posted at House of Eratosthenes. […]
- Cassy Fiano » “Making Up Stories” | 07/13/2010 @ 19:50
The majority of scientist are dependent upon government funding, not corporate funding. It is hard for them to speak frankly about global warming without threatening funding for some project their own company is working on.
- jamzw | 07/14/2010 @ 11:11
If you’re about to crawl under a car, nothing will make you feel good short of solid evidence that the jack is going to hold it up.

Aaaaaand if it should fail, those three ton jack stands will probably do the trick. I’m destined to rely on the peoples health system after all.

Trust, but verify.
Speak softly, but carry a BIG stick.
The receipts for those jack stands will serve as evidence that I take “wellness precautions” to the IRS managed “health” care, RIGHT?
They’ll at LEAST cancel out the “smoker” check box, reported on the private medical records, (SEE:Roe v.Wade) digitized and stored for (ahem) MY convenience, RIGHT?
- CaptDMO | 07/14/2010 @ 15:31
[…] Kristin Powers $1,069,100.00 Glasses for Geek Chicks Cheerleader of the Week Pelosi Rips Gibbs “Making Up Stories” Racism Test “Not Much Changed” Twenty-Four Little Hitlers Must Disclose Race(s) Mario: […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 07/18/2010 @ 16:36
[…] to have a thought without jotting down a few pages…except they were much more enthused about making up stories. It would have been a natural fit. Maybe they just didn’t think of […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 08/06/2010 @ 06:29
[…] Yeah, okay. So I’m pretty sure I know where they were coming from. This gets back to what Stephen Browne was referring to as “making up stories.” It is what it sounds like. You want to arrive […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 08/17/2010 @ 06:55
[…] another example of this… I have noticed something about how some people treat beliefs which are personally important […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 01/11/2012 @ 06:48

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent

Items of Interest

Monthly Archives

What They Say

Links

“Making Up Stories”Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

“Making Up Stories”
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010