How facts can backfire

I just read an interesting article in the Boston Globe (from their website, boston.com - here is the link) regarding facts, perception, and democracy. The article is a bit lengthy, but to attempt to boil it down: People who have their minds made up will rarely change their minds because of facts.

And this scares me more than just a little bit.

Consider: According to the article, someone who has a strong belief in something will actually strengthen that belief when confronted with facts that challenge it. Now translate that into Democratic voters who are convinced their man in the White House is doing/has done all the right things for the country, despite the fact that he's an avowed "progressive" (read: Marxist) and his attempts to "transform this country" have resulted in the greatest threat to our freedom and our Republic since, oh, 1776. If you try and convince Democratic voters of this fact, they will (if the article is correct) simply stick to their guns and shout even louder, all the while with their fingers in their ears refusing to listen. (And in all fairness, so would/have Republican voters. I've seen it happen in my own house.)

This creates a dilemma for those attempting to wrest Congressional seats from Democrats in November. If this article is true - and if you think about it, you've seen examples of this in your own lives - this would seem to make such a task almost impossibly daunting on its face.

So, what to do?

Facts are facts, and as such are unchangeable and irrefutable. That doesn't mean anyone's going to listen to them - but on the other hand, it is entirely possible that they can be used like a two-by-four on the forehead of a stubborn mule. The article also said that, when blasted between the eyes with facts, people tended to open their minds a little more and at least consider the new information instead of rejecting it out of hand because it didn't fit their worldview. And this is what we have to do if we're to have a greater chance of a Republican landslide in November.

It also fits in with an essay I read from Bill Whittle on Pajamas Media (titled "The Iceberg" - found here) that suggests we should hit the Left as hard as we can with everything we've got head-on. The facts can be a very potent weapon if wielded properly, but if we don't hit the liberals between the eyes with them we may find ourselves on the wrong end of the vote come November, especially as the liberal echo chamber begins getting tuned up this summer.