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Comment by martythemaniak

14 days ago

I heard reality has a well-known liberal bias.

I admit that I cannot even imagine the state of mind in which one could attribute parochial, contingent political preferences to the UNIVERSE.

  • It's a joke made by Steven Colbert at the 2006 White House correspondents' dinner which referenced the Bush Administration's low poll numbers and the tendency of that administration to attribute bad press to "liberal media bias." This is also the administration that brought us the use of the term "reality based community" as an anti-leftist pejorative.

    It is not meant to be literally interpreted as attributing contingent political preferences to the universe, but rather to be a (politically biased) statement on the tendency of conservatives to categorically deny reality and reframe it as leftist propaganda whenever it contradicts their narrative. One can extend this "bias" to include the rejection of mainstream scientific and historical narratives as "woke" by the right in a more modern context.

    [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert_at_the_2006_Wh...

    [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

  • Let me explain the joke for you: liberals are less likely to believe that verifiable facts and theories are merely contingent political preferences.

    • I see leftists denying inconvenient facts just as much as rightists. It's just the inevitable product of a tribal mentality, the tribe doesn't matter.

      7 replies →

    • Ask a liberal about capitalism.

      Both sides just pick and trumpet the hard truths that they like.