We live in a time where facts that do not fit an ideology or grievance are merely disregarded — or alternative ones concocted: Do you think campus rape is a problem not taken seriously? Then pillory the accused, deprive them of basic rights, say your critics are blaming the victim — and fling the dross of questionable statistics into the air.
Do you think black men are casually killed by the police? Then concoct a statistic, as Arlene Eisen has done, and watch with satisfaction as it goes viral. The widely used “#every28hours” hashtag turns out to be a hash of statistics and hunches, all of it infused by leftist cant about “the national security state” and the “perpetual war on black people.”
Do you think that the African American men who are killed by the police are solely victims of racism? If so, then ignore that, in 2013, about 44 percent of the nation’s murder victims were black — and some 90 percent of those victims were killed by other black people. There is a problem here, and it does not go away by yelling “Racist, Racist” at the numbers.
Do you think the bureaucracy is both liberal and evil? Then proclaim some foul-up at the IRS a second Watergate. It has, I know, disappointed — no movies in the works yet — but another scandal will soon appear. Facts are not really needed.
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