The View from Right Field

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Was Wrong. We Can Have Our Own Facts.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”¹  Except that is not true anymore.  Both sides in politics, and probably other things, do have their own facts today.  Fox vs. CNN/MSNBC.  The New York Times vs. The Wall Street Journal editorial page.  People watching/reading one silo of information vs. people watching/reading another.  People really do have different facts today, which means you can see why their opinions differ – because their facts are different.

And what may be even worse is that most of the people watching/reading in different silos don’t even understand that people watching/reading in other silos see things differently.  They still think there is only one set of facts and that everything else is just misinformation or disinformation.² 

Disinformation, Misinformation. How About “Lies” and “Wrong”?

People talk and complain about disinformation and misinformation constantly.  Disinformation and misinformation are said to be horrible, and in some people’s views, they need to be banned.  But to be honest, I’m not really sure what these terms mean.  Is “disinformation” a statement that is false or does it have to be knowingly false?  Does it need to have an illicit purpose or does that matter?  And what about “misinformation”?  Is it something that is not true but without an illicit purpose or is it something else?  And how is it different from “disinformation”?

I don’t know, and I suspect that I’m not alone in my confusion.  I also suspect that disinformation and misinformation are used more as weapons than as descriptions.  The nice thing about calling something disinformation or misinformation is that you don’t have to explain why it’s false or wrong.  You just get to call it false and tell people to ignore it and sometimes even try to shut people up because they’re saying it.

Free Speech and “Censorship Envy”

With all of the protests about Hamas’s attack on Israel and Israel’s response thereto, the question of free speech is coming up again.  Of course, all the woke and anti-woke campaigners in the US are raising lots of free speech issues, too.  My main response to these is “Thank God for James Madison and his friends.”  The United States is so lucky to have the First Amendment – and a Supreme Court willing to enforce it.

I could go on, but really I don’t need to – because Eugene Volokh, professor of law at UCLA, has done it so well in “Censorship Envy” at The Volokh Conspiracy (and Reason.com).  There is no reason for me to try to write something when he does such a great job.  Read his article/post, "Censorship Envy," here. 

Stop the Burning of the Koran – By Ignoring It

The Financial Times had an interesting article today on the issue of the burning of the Koran in Sweden and Denmark.¹  Apparently, there is a lot of it going on, especially outside embassies of Islamic countries.  The question is what, if anything, these countries, both of which have a strong commitment to freedom of speech, can do about these actions.

It seems to me there is a simple solution to the problem of Koran burning in Denmark and Sweden.  It is not for those countries to ban it.  It is, rather, for Muslims to stop paying attention to it.  I understand that, for Muslims, the Koran is their holy book and desecration of the Koran is an insult to Allah.  But the people burning the Korans are not Muslim, they do not believe in Allah, and they do not think the Koran is a holy book.

Hunter Biden’s Paintings Tell Us How to Handle Disclosure of Contribution

Joe and Hunter Biden may have solved the problem of how we handle disclosure of contributions to political causes.  For Hunter Biden’s paintings, the Bidens are considering a plan whereby the paintings will be sold by a third-party art gallery.  The art gallery won’t tell Hunter or President Biden – or the public – who buys the paintings or even who bids on them.  Therefore, there is no possibility of corruption or improper influence.

Which seems like the solution to contributions to political causes, too.  California wanted to know the names of contributors to charities, including ones that take political positions, so it could ensure nothing untoward happened.  But the U.S. Supreme Court said no because of concerns about confidentiality and retaliation.  The Bidens may have given us the solution.

What About That Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory?

Nothing has been proven yet with respect to the origins of Covid-19.  The theory that Covid-19 might have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, is only one possibility.  Much more research and investigation need to be done.  We don’t know yet.

Except, we do know.  We know that, instead of the lab leak theory being so absolutely false that Facebook wouldn’t even let it be mentioned and would take down posts that talked about it, it’s now a possibility.¹  It’s definitely not for sure.  But it is, apparently, something that could have happened.  Which means we know what we need to do.

Dr. Seuss – and Phonics

I understand there are people out there who don’t like Dr. Seuss anymore.  Which is fine.  You can like who you want.  But I like Dr. Seuss.

I remember when our kids were young (a long time ago) and learning to read.  I was a big fan of phonics as the best way to teach kids to read (I still am), and when it came to the best books for phonics, it was Dr. Seuss by a mile. 

I’m not talking about Horton Hatches the Egg or How the Grinch Stole Christmas (though those are great books, too, especially Horton).  I’m talking about Dr. Seuss’s “Beginner Books.”  They were the best and probably still are.  Thank you, Dr. Seuss.

Do Uighur Lives Matter? – Part Two: Do We Care?

In an earlier post I talked about why I thought saying “Uighur Lives Matter” could be problematic.  But beyond that, I don’t think “Uighurs Lives Matter” would carry the day in the United States, even if saying it wasn’t problematic.  Let me mention a couple of reasons.  First, a number of Americans just don’t care about what is going on elsewhere in the world.  It is part of their America First approach.  They feel we need to make economic deals with China.  We have to take care of ourselves; we can’t worry about the Uighurs.  This is certainly what former National Security Adviser John Bolton says that President Trump told President Xi Jinping. 

Second, lots of individual Americans and American companies are intimidated by China.  They see over a billion Chinese and decide sales and profits are more important than principles and doing what is right.

Do Uighur Lives Matter?

Black Lives Matter has swept the United States.  It is on tee shirts and signs outside churches.  It is painted on city streets and basketball floors.  Along with the pandemic, it is the thing most associated with 2020. 

My question is: What about “Uighur Lives Matter”?  The Chinese have been cracking down on the Uighurs for years.  The repression has gotten worse since President Xi Jinping took office.  Uighurs are labeled terrorists, and police are everywhere.  Reports are that over a million Uighurs are in forced labor camps, which the Chinese call re-education or training centers.¹

Scaredy-Cat Protestors – And the Role of the Press

With the Donald Trump impeachment hearings on the TV and all over the news, there is plenty of time to do other things.  But let me talk about something possibly related to the news on the impeachment of President Trump: the media and who to believe.  There was a brouhaha over the weekend at the student-run Daily Northwestern, in Evanston, Illinois.  The editorial staff at the paper ran an editorial apologizing for the harm they supposedly caused when the paper ran/tweeted photos of people protesting a speech by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  Apparently, some of the people in these photos felt they were harmed by the publication of the photos.  On Sunday, the paper apologized, saying in part:

“We recognize that we contributed to the harm students experienced, and we wanted to apologize for and address the mistakes that we made that night – along with how we plan to move forward.”