Post-Facts America: Lies, Ignorance, and the Politics of Division

The only thing I know for sure about Americans today is no one cares what women think

I once heard Chuck Todd say that we live in a “post-facts” world. At the time, I was horrified, but every day brings more evidence that he was right. Some will say this is because we live in our own echo chambers, where we cherry pick the news and facts that we listen to. As true as that is, it only tells half the story. Far too many of us seek out stories that interest, champion sides we agree with or “feel true,” and then actively shut out any information that contradicts or may call us to question that first idea. We do this on the macro and micro level. For me, this first hit home on the micro level.

Let me ignore facts, my opinion doesn’t hurt anyone, please, let’s just leave it at that.

I have a friend who likes to post things on Facebook about politics. That is his right but he often parrots right-wing talking points and rarely fully understands what he is posting. Recently, he posted some nonsense about…