Michael Wade writes about how people view major events now through a prism of a political point of view.

There are moments when it seems that a sign of our times is that large groups of people can watch the same event and walk away with completely opposite descriptions of what happened.

Perhaps that has always been the case but it is more noticeable now due to social media. One aspect that may be new is the intensity of feeling and the eagerness to designate political opponents as evil. That is not a healthy development for any society.

You do not, to borrow language from YouTube descriptions, OWN or DESTROY or SCHOOL your opponents. You argue with them. It is particularly helpful if that process includes listening.

While he’s not wrong, he’s absolutely, totally wrong. Let me explain.

It would be wonderful if “argue with them” meant “healthy debate,” but it doesn’t. Not anymore. I don’t have to listen to white supremacists justify their actions. I already know their justifications are incorrect and morally bankrupt. I ignore that debate because it can’t be won. It can’t be won because neither side is going to go into the “argument” with the same set of facts. We can “argue” the facts, but not really. Facts are facts. The other side “willfully ignores” or twists these facts to fit an agenda.

And here we are screaming at the other side because, as Steven Colbert once said, “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” There is no bias. Reality is reality. Facts are facts. The rest is goddamn noise, and no amount of “listening” is going to make a difference.

The only thing that matters is removing the cancer.