Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Goodman
But then you're not the only one writing foolish things in these threads.
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Max,
No serious person still argues about this. The only reason it's even still on the agenda is because american politicians take money from energy companies, and they don't want the flow to dry up. And a certain kind of american voter watches a certain network which keeps viewers by using it as a point of cultural identification.
Rational people ask themselves, all the time, why people vote against their own self interests, in the face of all evidence. How could there be an electoral coalition between the guy who lives in a penthouse and the guy who fixes the rich guys' air conditioner? I wondered about it for a long time myself. Then I found the answer in Dostoyevsky:
"Even if man were nothing but a piano key, even if this were proved to him by natural science and mathematics, even then he would not become reasonable, but would purposely do something perverse out of sheer ingratitude, simply to have his own way…then, after all, perhaps only by his curse will he attain his object, that is, really convince himself that he is a man and not a piano key!"
In other words, John and Charlie and the others know they're wrong, they know it with deep certainty. But they believe in personal freedom. Under those conditions, no amount of natural science will persuade them. The defiance of their self-determination gives them identity. It doesn't matter how many maps Julie posts. Reality is beside the point, that's all external. They want their own way, to have their own say, and it's theirs, after all, and so they exist.
It's why the guy who fixes air conditioners votes for people who hate him, it's why the deep south is so poor, it's why women still don't have their rights, even to equal representation. "I'm not defined by circumstances, I'm my own person, my beliefs are me, and I share them with others, and to hell with reality." When people told Cheney invading Iraq wasn't realistic, didn't match the facts on the ground, he said "We make our own reality." And that reality was his, he wasn't just some piano key, and to prove it to himself he still has to deny the results. And he does so. With heartfelt conviction.
John and Charlie and the rest have those same convictions. Rationality never persuades anyone. Poets should know that better than anyone else. "Only emotion endures."
Best,
Bill