Epistemic Closure

Wikipedia:  The term "epistemic closure" has been used in U.S. political debate to refer to the claim that political belief systems can be closed systems of deduction, unaffected by empirical evidence.

In an article at Daily Kos by Dante Atkins entitled "It's so hard to be an Obamacare-hating Republican these days," the author quotes Julian Sanchez:

One of the more striking features of the contemporary conservative movement is the extent to which it has been moving toward epistemic closure. Reality is defined by a multimedia array of interconnected and cross promoting conservative blogs, radio programs, magazines, and of course, Fox News. Whatever conflicts with that reality can be dismissed out of hand because it comes from the liberal media, and is therefore ipso facto not to be trusted. (How do you know they’re liberal? Well, they disagree with the conservative media!)

Atkins goes on:

Julian Sanchez, a CATO Institute fellow who specializes in the areas of privacy and surveillance, was perhaps the first to concisely distill the alternate reality that has been created by the continuously cross-referencing circle of conservative media outlets. Conservatives live in a bubble of epistemic closure in which narratives and ideas that feed a particular narrative are introduced, reinforced and then judged to be accurate simply by virtue of having been presented by the correct media authorities. It doesn't matter if whatever is being claimed has an actual basis in objective reality: once an idea that pleases the conservative id has taken root, it is mighty hard for truth to pierce the bubble of fantasy.

This is why President Obama can in the conservative mind be a Kenyan, a Muslim, a socialist, and a black liberation theologist all at the same time. It's why no amount of evidence can ever convince conservatism the climate change is real. It's why they view it as a fact that Obama is killing jobs and exploding the deficit, even as the facts are exactly the opposite on both counts. And it's also why the Affordable Care Act is simply known to be a disaster that is ruining lives, damaging employers, and constraining freedom, even as in reality it is reducing costs, saving lives, and making health insurance affordable for people who have gone far too long without it.

Police Dash Cam Video

Don't Worry - Be Happy!

Click here for a feel-good post at Vox entitled "26 charts and maps that show the world is getting much, much better," by Dylan Matthews. The last paragraph:

More of a visual learner? Then check out this interview with the Center for Global Development's Charles Kenny (author of The Upside of Down and Getting Better), who runs through a wide array of positive trends, from longer life expectancy to falling murder rates to increased beer consumption.

[Increased beer consumption is a good thing?]

A reasonable question for Santorum

This is Rick Santorum on the campaign trail for 2016, but listen to the mouth-frothing question that starts the clip. Remember when Obama was foiled in his attempt to nuke Charleston, SC, a year or so ago?

Hillary's horrible, terrible email scandal -- not so bad

Has there ever been a worse scandal than Hillary Clinton's email difficulties?

Well, in the first place, THE REGULATIONS SHE IS ALLEGED TO HAVE VIOLATED DID NOT GET ENACTED UNTIL AFTER SHE HAD LEFT HER JOB AS SECRETARY OF STATE.

In the second place, in 2007, when Bush's aides -- yes, Karl Rove, this includes you -- claimed that MILLIONS of their emails had been mysteriously lost, it was a media sensation for -- about 48 hours. After that -- crickets. I guess IOKIYAR.

Click here for an article by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters entitled "FLASHBACK: When Millions Of Lost Bush White House Emails (From Private Accounts) Triggered A Media Shrug."