We live in a time where destroying our enemies is more important than facts

There are now several fact-checking websites that will publicly shame politicians who fudge the facts. But does that make any difference?

There is some science on this, as it turns out.

Professor Kelly Garrett at Ohio State surveyed a group of Americans leading up to the 2012 election, asking them questions about several controversial news stories.

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One of the questions was this: Did most members of the US-led fact-finding mission conducted after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, conclude that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that it did not have weapons of mass destruction immediately before the war, the views were divided, or they were simply unsure?

Of course the inspectors concluded there were no weapons of mass destruction.

Then the professor asked a follow-up question: Do you believe there were weapons of mass destruction? And even among those who knew the inspectors hadn’t found any, the answer depended on the person’s politics. Republicans tended to answer yes there were weapons; Democrats answered no.

In other words, people will believe what they believe, facts be damned.

Republicans do it. Democrats do it.

And the professor has a theory. It’s the emotional nature of today’s news coverage where partisan media sites portray their opponents not simply as wrong about the issues, but bad people.

“If you think that the other side is willing to lie — that they’re basically just bad people — then there’s a reasonable possibility that you’re going to be more suspicious of any conclusion that doesn’t support your beliefs. And that I think is problematic.”

We’re living at a time when the only facts we really care about are the ones that prove our enemy is wrong.

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