Ana Kasparian is a progressive, and it is no secret that I am not a fan of progressive ideology. She is the Executive Producer and host of The Young Turks, a progressive show featuring former MSNBC host Cenc Uygur, so you wouldn’t expect me to be her biggest fan.

But she has exhibited a rare quality that deserves genuine praise and even gratitude from people concerned about intellectual integrity: a willingness to admit both her own biases and that she was wrong about something.

As someone who has been publicly wrong on an occasion or two, I know how hard it can be not to double down in order to preserve one’s ego or (quite wrongly) credibility. It is more than a little tempting to defend something you no longer believe, deny you believed it, or wait until the storm blows over and memory-hole the incident.

Kasparian chose the path of intellectual integrity, and I am genuinely impressed and even grateful to her for doing so. The entire 18-minute apology is here, and well worth watching. She goes through the facts clearly and in full.

A media property as big as TYT acknowledging in an apology that:

1. It made a mistake in attacking someone falsely

2. It has a political agenda

3. The political agenda itself led to the mistake

is flatly astonishing.

Good for @AnaKasparian and her credibility, imho.

— ib (@lndian_Bronson) April 13, 2023

Kasparian was taken in by the latest Rebekah Jones scam, in which the serial liar claimed that DeSantis sent his stormtroopers to kidnap her son and charge him with phony crimes. It turned out that Jones’ son was arrested for threatening to shoot up a school, which is a terroristic threat. He was charged and released back into Jones’ custody.

The Left went nuts over the charges, claiming this was yet more proof of DeSantis’ fascist tendencies. Kasparian was taken in by the grifter.

Well, it didn’t take long for the truth to come out, and Kasparian has made more than one apology for being taken in and helping spread the lies.

It happens to us all. When our priors are confirmed, we tend to believe the information. Especially when our trusted fellows amplify something.

The test of somebody’s intellect and integrity isn’t how often one is right about something; it’s about how willing you are to accept responsibility for being wrong. How often, in the midst of an argument, do you realize that you are on the wrong side? More often than you will admit. That sinking feeling, the unwillingness to back down, the impulse to bluster. We have all experienced it, and too often given in.

Well, it’s worse when you are in the public eye, and much worse when your livelihood depends upon your credibility. Admitting fault is spending precious capital, and while it sometimes turns into an investment instead of an expense, sometimes it doesn’t, and being publicly wrong can be very expensive indeed.

It takes guts to do what Kasparian did. It likely alienated some people who still want to believe Jones and gives credence to Kasparian’s critics who just want to “get” her.

But she did it. It took courage and displayed integrity.

Respect, Ana.