Read Rebuke Resist
Sometimes I read Thomas Sowell to see how conservatives
think. They say he was smart. I’m not, so I must take their word for it.
He once said he started out as a liberal, but facts got in his
way.
He loved facts, or so he said.
Therein lies an interesting observation that I, a public-school
product, made over time. Sowell loved to present facts and let the reader mix
them as a viewer of an impressionistic painting mixes disparate colors to imply
a new one. Sowell’s readers see facts and the conclusions they drew are their
own affairs.
For example. He once wrote a treatise on slavery. Without
once offering an opinion or, at the ending, a moral conclusion, he sprinkled the piece
with facts about slavery.
It seems that a huge proportion of all organized groups,
from the attendees at Adam and Eve’s family reunions to states of modern Africa,
have practiced slavery.
A weak mind would mix these facts and absolve America of any
shame associated with the practice. At least that seemed to be Sowell’s intent.
Everyone else was doing it. What the hell?
Now this may pass for critical thinking in some places, but
it wouldn’t stand up to my Sainted Mother’s “If everyone else was jumping off a
cliff …” test for juvenile guidance.
Watch a criminal trial. Opening arguments consist almost
entirely of facts, sometimes the same on both sides. Nonetheless, their purpose
is to lead the listeners to diametrically opposed impressions.
We can’t change the truth. As John Adams actually said, “Facts
are stubborn things.” What we can change is our method of searching for moral
guidance.
