Dear Dr. E: I’ve listened to you on the radio several times and heard you refer to Ben Shapiro’s quote where he says, “The facts don’t care about your feelings.” Can you tell me again why you’re so fond of this statement? It seems harsh and even implies that you’re not interested in how people feel. — Curious Christian From Canada
Dear Curious: In answering your question, it’s important we remember that context is always king, and the context of Ben Shapiro’s quote and my fondness for it is that we live in a culture that has elevated relativism above reality.
Let me explain.
Relativism is a worldview that places you at the center of everything. According to relativism, you are the grand interpreter, the final authority, the definer of all. You establish your own truths. You create your own values. You author your own rules. You decide what is good, evil, bitter, sweet, true and false.
In a culture given over to relativism, it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as it works for you. This is a philosophical system I’ll call “whateverism” because anytime any value or idea is up for debate, we can shrug and say “whatever.” It’s all about our feelings. The facts don’t matter.
In fact, nothing matters other than you and your gratification. Live and let live. After all, who is to judge?
But this is a broken worldview. We all intuitively know relativism is a charade. It’s a fairy tale of dancing unicorns and leprechauns. It’s a land of make-believe. It’s a system of denial driven by emotion and lies.
All of us know that some things are right, and some are wrong. Every thinking human being, for example, agrees that rape is wicked, the Holocaust was evil, and slavery is a horrible idea. The facts don’t care about anyone’s feelings on these matters.
Some things simply are what they are. The yard lines are down. The boundaries are set. The rule book is written, and we can’t manipulate it into what we’d like it to be.
We live in a real world with established facts; denying them doesn’t change them. Jumping out of an airplane while shouting “I can fly” doesn’t negate the law of gravity. Pretending the world is flat does not change the fact that you can sail around it. Suggesting that the evil of rape is a social construct rather than an absolute evil will win you very few points at the next social justice convention.
There are objective truths. And that’s the truth.
We all know the only way to win the game is to play within the established boundaries. You can’t play soccer with three bases, a home plate, and a triangular field. Baseball is baseball, and soccer is soccer. Each sport has a definition and a purpose. Each sport means something. All of us must play the game we’re in. Pretending basketball is hockey because you feel like it doesn’t make it so.
Because we have elevated feelings over facts, our society now treats words as if they mean nothing and are as moldable as clay. But we know this is nonsense. The rules of language have been set, and, indeed, they must be set.
If we are to communicate sanely with one another, a pony can’t be a fish, and a fish can’t be a chicken. The meaning of words must be factual. Our feelings can’t change them.
Frankly, this is self-evident and irrefutable because if it were not, you couldn’t read this sentence and have any hope of understanding it.
The very nature of speaking, reading and writing assumes factual clarity; otherwise, everyday communication would become as impossible as trying to play football without a field or a ball.
When it comes to a dictionary, when it comes to life, facts matter, not your feelings. You might feel like red is a number. But it’s not. You might feel like two plus two equals green. But it doesn’t. You might feel that dogs are horses and your Labrador retriever lays eggs, but she won’t.
Your feelings don’t change the facts of what is.
Facts matter. Your feelings don’t.
Higher Ground is there for you if you’re seeking guidance in today’s changing world. Everett Piper, a Ph.D. and a former university president and radio host, is writing an advice column for The Times, and he wants to hear from you. If you have any moral or ethical questions for which you’d like an answer, please email askeverett@washingtontimes.com, and he may include it in the column.
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