Or: “How I lost all my friends writing a post about global warming”

Before we get started, it’s probably worth defining how I plan to use the words “fact” and “truth” for the purposes of this post. A fact is a discrete data point, something that is “true.” For example: the apple fell from the tree to the grass below. Truth, on the other hand, is a more general statement, usually an extrapolation from a series of facts. For example: there is a force called gravity that pulls objects down towards the the ground.

In my job, it’s not uncommon for someone to come to me, hand me a bunch of facts (data) and ask me to give them some truth. Seems straight forward enough. Except it almost never is.

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If you haven’t heard, millennials feel like they have it rough. They feel underqualified for the same jobs that were standard entry-level fare a few years ago. They struggle to find affordable housing or find fulfilling careers. Why do they have it so rough? College. Continue reading →

I recently saw a conversation on social media that went something like this:

Woman: Well, if Trump gets impeached that’s almost worse because Mike Pence is really awful.
Man: Well, say what you will about policy but at least Mike Pence has legislative experience.
Woman: Well, you can’t possibly understand how bad Mike Pence is because you’re not a woman.

Then there are things like this:

If you have said the above sentiments, or read them now and agree, guess what? You’re being sexist.

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We’re all struggling lately with separating the “what” from the “how” in our political dialogues.

Take, for example, Jimmy Kimmel’s recent remarks about healthcare for his newborn son. Please watch the full video here, but essentially his son was born with a congenital heart defect that required immediate surgery for him to live. He related this story on his show and discussed how this defect would be considered a preexisting condition that might limit or prohibit him from being insured. His point was that regardless of your political leanings, we should all agree that children born with pre-existing conditions shouldn’t be denied treatment.

His statement has been taken and used by both sides in the argument about the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Democrats have jumped on it as another example of why the ACA is needed. Republicans have reacted to Kimmel’s support of the ACA with a variety of attacks ranging from showing that Kimmel’s specific situation would not have benefitted from the ACA to calling him a Hollywood elitist.

Here’s the thing though: Jimmy was right.

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