For the longest time I thought that right-wing bloggers were crazy. More accurately, for the longest time I was told that right-wing bloggers were crazy. And I believed what I was told.
Then, earlier this year, I started listening to the Hodge Twins, Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles among others and I realized something important. They’re not crazy at all.
These “right-wing-nuts” are actually pretty smart. They have facts and data to back up their claims and their logic is sound. I’ll admit, there are some things that I’ve heard that are a bit out there, but, for the most part, they’re able to prove what they say. All it takes is a mind open to the facts and a willingness to listen.
I’ve been having a difficult time lately understanding how otherwise-rational people could possibly buy what the Left is selling. Why would someone who is normally fairly intelligent believe what they do?
Then I figured it out. There are two things afflicting people on the Left. Willful ignorance and self-deception. And, they feed on each other.
Let’s consider both.
- Willful ignorance is when someone makes a decision in bad faith to avoid becoming informed.
- Self-deception is when someone believes false things with complete conviction.
We see examples of willful ignorance all the time from the Left. It’s their default move. People on the Left don’t like to hear thoughts or viewpoints that oppose their preconceived notions. So, they disrupt speakers, scream in people’s faces, change the subject, or make irrelevant points to keep from hearing an opposing argument.
The Left ignores facts that don’t support their point-of-view and often use faulty logic to reinforce what they already believe in. They refuse to participate in a free exchange of ideas. All so they can continue to believe what they already believe. That is willful ignorance.
There are many examples of the Left exhibiting self-deception but let’s focus on one for now.
People on the Left believe that President Trump has done absolutely no good during his first term. They believe that he has done nothing but hurt America. But that simply isn’t true.
The list of his accomplishments is an extremely long one. His actions have benefitted all Americans and he has arguably done more for non-white people than any president other than Abraham Lincoln. But the Left still have this irrational belief that he is to be hated and that voting for anyone else is better than reelecting President Trump.
There is nothing anyone can say that would make them think otherwise. That is self-deception.
I believe that willful ignorance leads to self-deception. By ignoring any fact that would disprove your beliefs, you can thoroughly convince yourself that what you believe is absolutely, and without a doubt, true. Once that happens, no amount of new information will make you change your mind.
But it’s more complicated, and worse, than that. The mainstream media is mostly owned and controlled by Liberals. And, they get to decide what you see and hear.
So, the media continues to push the Liberal agenda using messages designed to reinforce what people on the Left already believe. If you’re on the Left, you don’t even have the choice to be willfully ignorant because the mainstream media has decided instead to make you, and keep you, ignorant. From there, it’s just a small step to self-deception.
Once the Left-controlled media has made you willfully ignorant and self-deceiving, you can find yourself in a feedback loop where your ignorance and self-deception reinforce each other.
And that’s why otherwise-intelligent people won’t listen to reason. Because they either don’t want to or they can’t, depending on where they are in the loop.
The good news is that neither of these are permanent afflictions. All you have to do is break the cycle. By choosing knowledge over ignorance, you can eliminate the self-deception and start thinking for yourself, instead of simply believing what you’ve been told to believe.
Note: This is the second article in a three-part series.
#1: Cult of Democrats
#3: Prison of Beliefs
