Thanks to Colonel Stan Gudmundson for his September 24 commentary clarifying how Trump supporters do and should view journalism. In her book, The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life, Ivanka Trump writes “Perception is more important than reality. If someone perceives something to be true, it is more important than if it is in fact true. This doesn’t mean you should be duplicitous or deceitful, but don’t go out of your way to correct a false assumption if it plays to your advantage.” Colonel Gudmundson lays it out much more directly. The news source could be an investigative reporter who has spent months researching a topic, obtaining and scrutinizing FOIR documents, following up all leads, identifying, interviewing, and vetting as many witnesses and persons of interest as possible, or it could be a “talking head” on Fox News pontificating off the cuff, perhaps cherry picking a fact or two. Regardless, all that matters is does what he or she have to say conform to your own prejudices or not; if so, it’s “real” news; if not, it’s “fake” news. How elegantly simple and straightforward! No need to be irritated by listening to anything with which you might disagree; just tune it out. No need to be confused by facts. No need to bother with fact checking or logical interpretation of facts. Certainly no need ever to challenge your own cherished beliefs. Only one little snag, if indeed you’d think of it as a snag. If we only associate with, converse with, and listen to persons who share our exact same views, we only become more and more convinced of the certainty of those views, whether or not they are actually correct, and the ideological gulf that now divides us in America only gets wider and deeper.
David Webb, MD
Lanesboro, Minn.