Alternate Facts

There is a Sanskrit proverb which translates as "The king is respected in his kingdom; the savant - everywhere." That was back when kings enjoyed divine authority and had the power of life and death, freedom and bondage, over their subjects. Even then kings would usually defer to the authority of the learned - except when they didn't. Examples of that would be the imprisonment of Galileo for challenging the geocentric theory of the Catholic church and the Scopes trial. Those who think these are things in the past should be less complacent. Flat-earthers are still with us and attempts to ban the teaching of evolution are still afoot in some southern states. A memorable moment of the 2016 presidential campaign was when Kelly Ann Conway introduced the concept of alternate facts. Many made the mistake of dismissing this as a joke. The fact is that there were enough believers in all kinds of alternate facts to decide the election. A combination of complacency and apathy among the rest of the population also no doubt helped Trump get elected. We now have a president who claims to know more about economics than economists, about science than scientists, about medicine than doctors and about military matters than generals. He does this with a straight face probably because he knows it irritates those who think otherwise which, in turn, convinces his base to continue supporting him. People on that side have no problem with scientific facts as long as they create a better standard of living until those facts challenge their beliefs on social and other issues. The rest of us may take comfort in the fact that Canute was not able to turn back the tide but would do well to remember that Trump supporters continue to pooh-pooh climate change even as the waters rise in Florida and to question the need for action on COVID-19 even as the number of positive tests and symptomatic people grows. Middle of the road-ers must turn out to vote this November or live with the consequences.