Politicians: They Know, The Just Don't Care

Friend #1: "How can Democrat politicians NOT know that deep-water oil exploration is the right thing to do. It will take the speculators out of the market resulting in an immediate 25% drop in gas prices, and the money will be going to American companies to reinvest in American jobs and in new energy technologies, AND the money won't be going to some Middle East country where it can be used to support terrorism. How can Democrat politicians NOT know this?"

Me: "They know, they just don't care."

Friend #2: "How can all of these people NOT know that Barack Obama is an empty suit. He has no experience and surrounds himself with terrorists, racists, and crooks. He hasn't a clue when it comes to policy; he was for unconditional talks with dictators and tyrants before he was against it, he was for public funding for elections before he was against it, he was for his pastor before he was against him, he was for all kinds of things before he was against them. He is as much a waffler as John Kerry. How can Obama supporters NOT know this?"

Me: "They know, they just don't care."

I have never been able to understand the way some people can ignore what they know to be true, simply because it doesn't match up with what they want to be true. And, it is not limited to the realm of politics either. Consider this example taken from the book Casanova Was A Book Lover;

The Beardstown Ladies, celebrated for their putatively brilliant investment club, sold eight hundred thousand copies of their first book, success that led to other books. Nothing much changed when a mean-spirited little whippersnapper in Chicago reported that their investments really weren't that good and neither was their math. The little old ladies had not known the right way to calculate annualized returns; the proper calculations showed their returns fell far below the market annual averages. They were sorry. "We're saddened by the people who judged us guilty and suggested we were in it for the money," said Betty Sinnock, the lady who can't add. "I feel like [the reporter] really didn't related what the Beardstown Ladies were all about." Accepting the apology, the public keep buying the books, in which the publisher didn't work too hard at inserting corrections slips. Sinnock remained on the individual investors committee to the New York Stock Exchanges. The reporter attended a speech for which Sinnock received a standing ovation. "The got away with it, and more power to them," of of the members of the audience told him. "Look at how many books they've sold."

In other words, for this member of the audience the popularity of the Beardstown Ladies excused the lack of substance. Sounds familiar doesn't it.

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