98. Do Facts Matter?

My answer, yes... most of the time at least. It seems that facts only matte when they serve your point of view. People use them as clubs rather than in search of truth.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
-Henry David Thoreau

A few things have come up on the campaign trail and in the wake of impeachment that made me notice this tactic.

Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are both known as being inexact with their language. Recently, both have had some goofy mistakes that have lead people to miss the point of their message.

AOC used the name Milton Keynes, mixing up John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, two of the most prominent economists in the last 100 years. It's funny because she proves over and over again that she actually is ignorant.

But ask yourself, would you give one of the people you follow some slack if you saw this?

Trump then went out and said he heard the one word he wanted to hear, "Total exoneration." Joy Behar then called him out because it was actually two words.

These are cases where the fact they're being criticized on are not the point. Trump's point that he was exonerated is true. Just look at his poll numbers.

AOC's point about economics was, "famed economist Milton Keynes predicted that by 2030, GDP and technology would have advanced so much that it would allow everyday people to work as little as 15 hours a week and provide for their families."

That is something he said, and actually there's evidence that that could become reality, but not for the reason he thought. Also, it would require us to be content with less status. A $30,000 salary today provides far more luxury than it did in 1905, despite being a modest income.

Instead of having a conversation about the topic at hand, we're talking about irrelevant details. That's where facts don't matter.

They do matter when they truly affect the conversation. What a candidate plans to do in office matters, as well as whether or not the president is actually being thrown out of office. It matters to our lifestyles what value we produce and if we can live off a 15 hour work week.

Now, what are the actual facts that pertain to these issues?

Book Review: Walden And Civil Disobedience By Henry David Thoreau