When did the facts in an argument become so unimportant? Was it during the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction? Was it earlier when Bill Clinton lied about having sex with "that" woman? Was it even earlier when Bush Sr. said "read my lips. No new taxes!" Was it when Reagan lied about funding illegal wars in Central America or selling arms to terrorist countries? Now this isn't a political conversation, I'm just trying to make a point. It seems that facts don't seem to hold much weight these days.
I recently had an ongoing political debate with an acquaintance on facebook and it occurred to me that the younger generation is even worse than mine. The younger generation believes that he who yells loudest and makes the last statement wins. They don't take much time to prove their point with facts, because to them, it is unimportant.
Let's get away from politics for now. Let's look at every day conversations. Steroids, for instance. Players know they are bad for their bodies, but they hear they can play better, so they ignore the facts and take them. Some do perform at a high level, but so many do not. What about global warming. Despite some Al Gore haters (I am one myself), the man has a point. When ice caps are visibly smaller, when mountaintops that have always been covered with snow are now barren, there is a problem. So many people look at the current spring and debate the facts. The past two decades have been two of the hottest in nearly 400 years. Montana's Glacier Park has decreased in size by 80% in the last one hundred years and something warm must cause that.
I have had arguments with people recently about all kinds of things. Sports comes into play and my Yankees fan friends say stuff like "26 rings." They seem to forget they haven't won in almost 10 years. This is fact. Their delusions of grandeur is fiction. The facts are the Red Sox have two World Series wins in this decade and the Yankees have one, which was the first of the decade. Robinson Cano is better than Dustin Pedroia? The facts is, Dustin won the MVP last year. MVP. He's better, fact!
Now when it comes to movies I go nuts. Most people like crap. Sadly that is a fact. Listen, I don't like Shawshank Redemption, but I kind of know that is my opinion since so many critics love it. I admit my utter dislike of Stephen King novels and Tim Robbins acting ability leaves me to a very small minority. I'll even add I am sick of Morgan Freeman. It may be a fact that I am a jackass when it comes to this movie, among other things. The facts is, there are very few people I know who walk this earth (who don't watch movies for a living), that have seen the number of movies and the wide variety of movies that I have seen. I have probably watched more foreign films over the past 10 years than most people have watched in any genre. The fact is, I know what I am talking about with movies. Chris Klein is not a good actor, neither is Ethan Hawke. You may not like Sean Penn's politics, but don't not see a movie with him in it because of this, because he's one of the best actors of our time. Hey you went and saw Shawshank, and Tim Robbins, agree with him or not, is an asshole when it comes to personal politics. My point is the facts get a little fuzzy when personal opinion is added.
The easiest way to prove my point would be to look at the Reagan Era and dispute fact from fiction, but I will avoid such controversial topics, because I'll lose sight of my own focus. Plus some readers, if there are any, will disagree based on political affiliation, not based on facts.
So for my argument I will use the price of gasoline. We just got out of a period where gas was almost $5 a gallon. I guess in some places it was. Now it's at $2.50 and there are no complaints. I find this odd, but still, is it really that crazy. The price of a subway ride is cheaper, but seriously, who rides almost 20 miles a day. A gallon of gas in a decent car will get you at least 20 miles. My point is, why shouldn't gas be that much. Maybe it should be more. A 16 oz bottled water is $1.50 but we don't complain about that. A pizza is $15-20 and costs the pizzeria about $2 to make and we don't complain. We'll go to our favorite pub and get a $9 six-ounce hamburger, when a lb of ground meat and eight buns costs less. When you bring these things up, people dispute it and scream about the war and terrorism and all that, but the reality, the facts are that we are charged that much because we are willing to pay that much. We are willing to go out and spend $1.50 on a bottled water and $2.50 on a gallon of gas and all these other things. If we weren't, they wouldn't charge this much.
Don't like the money analogy. Date someone. Pick anything and argue about it. Tape record the events and then listen to it back. I guarantee that somewhere along the lines one of you, if not both of you, forget facts completely. Everyone here has been with someone who says "I'm going to go to the gym on Wednesday and then out after." Two days later you call them and say "hey what are you doing Thursday night?" They say, "I told you, going to the gym and then going out....you never listen." The fight ensues and the facts is that one person said something they believe to be true and the other heard something they believe to be true. The fact of the matter is it doesn't matter, because neither party will be right. I won't get into the statistics of how many times a woman forgets about the facts in relation to how many times a man does. This ratio might be skewed by my having balls, but let's just say it ain't equal....ladies.
I don't know when the facts became secondary in arguments, conversations, debates, but I do know that more people these days pull information out of their ass than ever before. Just remember: Just because someone claims to know what they are talking about, doesn't mean they do. Ask them to verify it. Ask them where they heard this information and don't be lazy. If you had the energy to debate the topic, look it up. Chances are, if you're the one willing to double check it, you are the one who was speaking factually.
A side note about the title. If you ever say just the facts ma'am while speaking to a woman. Either duck or get ready for some serious silence. Estrogen outweighs facts. That is a fact!
I recently had an ongoing political debate with an acquaintance on facebook and it occurred to me that the younger generation is even worse than mine. The younger generation believes that he who yells loudest and makes the last statement wins. They don't take much time to prove their point with facts, because to them, it is unimportant.
Let's get away from politics for now. Let's look at every day conversations. Steroids, for instance. Players know they are bad for their bodies, but they hear they can play better, so they ignore the facts and take them. Some do perform at a high level, but so many do not. What about global warming. Despite some Al Gore haters (I am one myself), the man has a point. When ice caps are visibly smaller, when mountaintops that have always been covered with snow are now barren, there is a problem. So many people look at the current spring and debate the facts. The past two decades have been two of the hottest in nearly 400 years. Montana's Glacier Park has decreased in size by 80% in the last one hundred years and something warm must cause that.
I have had arguments with people recently about all kinds of things. Sports comes into play and my Yankees fan friends say stuff like "26 rings." They seem to forget they haven't won in almost 10 years. This is fact. Their delusions of grandeur is fiction. The facts are the Red Sox have two World Series wins in this decade and the Yankees have one, which was the first of the decade. Robinson Cano is better than Dustin Pedroia? The facts is, Dustin won the MVP last year. MVP. He's better, fact!
Now when it comes to movies I go nuts. Most people like crap. Sadly that is a fact. Listen, I don't like Shawshank Redemption, but I kind of know that is my opinion since so many critics love it. I admit my utter dislike of Stephen King novels and Tim Robbins acting ability leaves me to a very small minority. I'll even add I am sick of Morgan Freeman. It may be a fact that I am a jackass when it comes to this movie, among other things. The facts is, there are very few people I know who walk this earth (who don't watch movies for a living), that have seen the number of movies and the wide variety of movies that I have seen. I have probably watched more foreign films over the past 10 years than most people have watched in any genre. The fact is, I know what I am talking about with movies. Chris Klein is not a good actor, neither is Ethan Hawke. You may not like Sean Penn's politics, but don't not see a movie with him in it because of this, because he's one of the best actors of our time. Hey you went and saw Shawshank, and Tim Robbins, agree with him or not, is an asshole when it comes to personal politics. My point is the facts get a little fuzzy when personal opinion is added.
The easiest way to prove my point would be to look at the Reagan Era and dispute fact from fiction, but I will avoid such controversial topics, because I'll lose sight of my own focus. Plus some readers, if there are any, will disagree based on political affiliation, not based on facts.
So for my argument I will use the price of gasoline. We just got out of a period where gas was almost $5 a gallon. I guess in some places it was. Now it's at $2.50 and there are no complaints. I find this odd, but still, is it really that crazy. The price of a subway ride is cheaper, but seriously, who rides almost 20 miles a day. A gallon of gas in a decent car will get you at least 20 miles. My point is, why shouldn't gas be that much. Maybe it should be more. A 16 oz bottled water is $1.50 but we don't complain about that. A pizza is $15-20 and costs the pizzeria about $2 to make and we don't complain. We'll go to our favorite pub and get a $9 six-ounce hamburger, when a lb of ground meat and eight buns costs less. When you bring these things up, people dispute it and scream about the war and terrorism and all that, but the reality, the facts are that we are charged that much because we are willing to pay that much. We are willing to go out and spend $1.50 on a bottled water and $2.50 on a gallon of gas and all these other things. If we weren't, they wouldn't charge this much.
Don't like the money analogy. Date someone. Pick anything and argue about it. Tape record the events and then listen to it back. I guarantee that somewhere along the lines one of you, if not both of you, forget facts completely. Everyone here has been with someone who says "I'm going to go to the gym on Wednesday and then out after." Two days later you call them and say "hey what are you doing Thursday night?" They say, "I told you, going to the gym and then going out....you never listen." The fight ensues and the facts is that one person said something they believe to be true and the other heard something they believe to be true. The fact of the matter is it doesn't matter, because neither party will be right. I won't get into the statistics of how many times a woman forgets about the facts in relation to how many times a man does. This ratio might be skewed by my having balls, but let's just say it ain't equal....ladies.
I don't know when the facts became secondary in arguments, conversations, debates, but I do know that more people these days pull information out of their ass than ever before. Just remember: Just because someone claims to know what they are talking about, doesn't mean they do. Ask them to verify it. Ask them where they heard this information and don't be lazy. If you had the energy to debate the topic, look it up. Chances are, if you're the one willing to double check it, you are the one who was speaking factually.
A side note about the title. If you ever say just the facts ma'am while speaking to a woman. Either duck or get ready for some serious silence. Estrogen outweighs facts. That is a fact!
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