Relationships
America’s Loss of Love and Reason
Personal Perspective: How to counter delusion and disrespect in our society.
Posted January 2, 2023 Reviewed by Devon Frye
Key points
- Reason and love are the foundation of human life.
- Societies across the globe see the rejection of reason and love in favor of ideology.
- More than ever, we need to stand up for both reason and love.
Reason is the capacity to apply logic in seeking truth. To adequately apply logic, we need knowledge; both knowledge and logic are essential for finding truth. We use data and tools to estimate the probability of something being “factual.”
How do we know if something actually is true? Well, we don’t—for the most part. A lot of the information we receive is from third sources and we have no way to verify it. In some cases, we have expertise that may help in evaluating the accuracy of reporting.
Foremost, we use reason to gauge the probability of something being true. In the process, we consider the reliability of sources, consistency of information across sources, and plausibility. Very important is the assessment of bias—our own bias as well as that of sources.
Our initial assumption may turn out to be wrong and acknowledging error is critical in the process of finding truth—albeit a common source of failure. Admitting a mistake may be perceived as weakness, while, ironically, it actually is a sign of confidence and strength.
In the example of the 2020 presidential election controversy, few have direct knowledge of the underlying data. To get a sense if the claim of fraud is true, we consider that the case was addressed by many people, including government employees from both parties, judges, lawyers, and reporters from around the world. Numerous reports have been published and the consensus is that there were no significant irregularities that could have changed the official election results.
The reports within and outside the U.S. have been largely consistent. The plausibility of this conclusion is further strengthened by strong incentives for journalists to report irregularities. Given the strong evidence against the "stolen election" hypothesis, then, it is reasonable to conclude that the election result was legitimate.
Furthermore, the alternative assumption, put forward by some, that a gigantic coverup involving the government, most journalists, judges, and legal experts keeps the truth from being revealed is neither plausible nor supported by adequate evidence. Even if we reject all evidence, it is highly improbable that a coverup involving so many individuals could be concealed in a world where almost every word is recorded somewhere. Nevertheless, millions of people cling to the conspiracy theory and reject the consensus by lawyers, experts, academics, and journalists.
Conspiracy theories, of course, have always found supporters throughout history. There are those who believe we never landed on the moon, the earth is flat, the AIDS virus never existed, the Titanic never sank, and so many more.
For the most part, however, folks expressing such irrational thoughts have been marginalized and excluded from influential positions. All societal arrangements and the progress of human life are based on reason. The concepts of time, location, distance, and essentially all aspects of daily life are based on evidence, logic, and knowledge. In contrast, irrationality is driven by wishes and beliefs devoid of credible proof.
Checks and balances within a society typically expose illogical individuals. Overtly irrational people rarely had effective tools to propagate their ideas and find like-minded individuals. Publishers, academics, and intellectuals served as gatekeepers for disseminating information and were likely to discredit claims without evidential support.
This dramatically changed with the advent of the internet, particularly social media. Suddenly, folks around the world found others who shared their obscure ideas, which not only allowed nonsense to propagate but also emboldened many silent supporters to join. The result is a delusion pandemic, with ideas mutating and becoming increasingly hostile toward academics and the “elite” who try to expose and disparage illogical thoughts and theories.
Sadly, we find our societies deeply divided now between those who believe in reason and those who like to form their reality to their liking—disregarding any evidence to the contrary. With these premises, there is no common ground for constructive discourse. The critical aspect of our nation’s division is that a sensible exchange seems increasingly impossible because a large portion of people has dismissed logic and knowledge as the foundation of human communication. Without a common mode of communication, peaceful cohabitation is in jeopardy.
Rejection of reason often coexists with xenophobia, racism, and misogyny, as well as disdain for intellectuals, elites, and government, largely because it is often easier to blame others than to face harsh realities. Irrationality lends to scapegoating and simplistic messaging rather than to disentangling complicated dynamics in a society.
The ability to overcome these biases may be acquired through education, experience, and reason—an often slow and arduous process. Challenging our intellectual framework is uncomfortable. On the other hand, stereotypes are often introduced during childhood and propagated over generations.
Our progress with overcoming prejudice has been painfully slow despite influential religious leaders and intellectuals, who have been teaching acceptance and altruism for centuries. While billions subscribe to religions, many of those people struggle to apply their teachings to daily life. It never ceases to amaze how people claiming to be true to their faiths betray the same at the very core through their hostility and even violence toward other people.
Progress, however, is undeniable. Within a few generations, we have seen the abolishment of slavery and segregation, and we have made strides in fighting bigotry toward women and minorities. Progress has not been equal across or even within societies. It is also clear that with any progress there is resistance to the acceptance of new norms or rules.
Setbacks, unfortunately, are part of human history. While progress can be intermittently halted, it cannot be stopped altogether because the drive for equality is deeply woven into the fabric of human nature. History suggests that we are on a path for the better—but it is also clear that the path is long, hard, and winding.
What can we do to fight the global rejection of reason in our time? Foremost, I argue that rational folks have to unite and stand together. We cannot allow mass delusion to erode our societies and endanger decades of progress.
There are many people across political party affiliations who subscribe to the rules of reason. We need to find those and form a coalition of rationality, promoting respectful, sensible dialogue and the impartial gathering of knowledge. Coalitions against irrationality are building in many democracies around the world. The U.S. cannot fall behind in this effort.
We must actively participate in all elections to maintain democracy and to safeguard civil rights. I argue that nobody should believe that a personal vote makes no difference. Elections are being decided by small margins and the impact on our daily lives cannot be overstated.
We need to engage on all available platforms and stand up against nonsense, misinformation, and intimidation. While standing firm with our core principles of respect for all, we need to keep extending our hands to those who are willing to listen. Love is always right—and I argue that this is as much about love as it is about reason.
Xenophobia, racism, and disdain for anybody are contrary to love. Closing our minds to truth and reason undermines the foundation of our communities, which also is contrary to love. Love asks for respect, humility, and empathy—toward anybody.
We cannot forget this. We cannot be silent. While love is always right, it is also fragile and it can be oppressed by ideology. People in Nazi Germany were not all monsters devoid of love but many let themselves be fooled by irrational narratives or did not have the courage to resist. If we don’t stand up for love and reason every day, we may pay a horrible price—as history has shown over and again.
