It feels so hard to know, doesn’t it? Everything’s moving so fast, and it’s all so uncertain.
What can anyone do, for that matter?
The first task is to be clear about category distinctions, and then to be clear in those categories where that’s possible.
For example, what’s happening with our government is wrong. We can endlessly debate the specifics and details, but on the really big and important stuff — pandemic response, foreign policy, general competence, respect for the rule of law — it’s wrong.
It’s going to be very difficult to move forward until we can face the brutal reality. And if that’s difficult to accept, it’s worth asking why.
Is it because confusion serves particular interests?
Is it because you can’t let go of truths long held to be self-evident?
Is it because admitting systemic wrongness (not to say evil) might have personal implications — about culpability, complicity, or consequences — that are difficult to face?
Even if that’s so, it’s still possible — and important — to be clear where we can be.
Colin Steele 