The people who know nothing know everything
I knew the evening was in trouble when the hostess described the table as “a safe space for difficult conversations.” Nothing good has ever followed such words.
A safe space for difficult conversations is usually a space in which everyone is free to express precisely the same opinion, provided they do so using slightly different therapeutic vocabulary. Disagreement is welcome in the way vegetarians are welcome at a barbecue: theoretically, warmly, and without any intention of accommodating them.
“But before I go, let us clarify what happened here. You invited one pro-Israel guest into a room of people who share the same politics and called it dialogue. You introduced me by my position, then treated me as morally suspect for holding it. You recited accusations you could not define, cited history you did not know, invoked laws you could not explain and became offended whenever asked for evidence.”
My editorial opinion: Linda Goudsmit/071326
Brilliant brilliant article!! My favorite exchange is, “’This is why these conversations are impossible. You keep retreating into facts.’ I stared at her. It remains one of the finest accusations ever made against me.” The exchange describes the arrogance of the low-information individuals who substitute their feelings for facts. And the mocking title, “The People who know nothing know everything” distills the entire conflict between those who live in the adult world of facts/objective reality, and those who choose to live in the childish world of feelings/subjective reality. This is no small matter because it is the source of political rupture among families, friendships, colleagues, and even nations. Those who live in objective reality cannot live in peace with those who live in subjective reality. Why? Because a sane society requires consensus on what is real. Feelings are not facts, and when feelings replace facts as the metric for reality, society has been reduced, regressed, weakened to childish psychological functioning and vulnerable to its enemies. Freedom is an adult enterprise and our enemies know it.