Considered opinion: Truth decayA College Reading List for the Post-Truth Era
“We live in a time beset with belittlement of science, hostility toward expertise and attacks on traditional democratic institutions,” Michael T. Nietzel, president emeritus of Missouri State University, writes. “It’s a post-truth period where conspiracy theories and crackpot ideas flourish. If the facts conflict with someone’s sense of identity or political ideology, then the facts are disposable. They can be replaced with notions that feel better or reverberate on social media.” What is the best way to achieve the goal of making young students less susceptible to dangerous s stupidities and toxic conspiracy theories? Nietzel has a suggestion — although he admits it is increasingly rare as an academic expectation: serious reading. He offers seven recent books which champion reason over emotion, distinguish facts from fallacies, and enumerate the dangers of ignoring the truth.
Michael T. Nietzel, president emeritus of Missouri State University and a retired professor of clinical psychology, does not mince words. He writes in Forbes:
We live in a time beset with belittlement of science, hostility toward expertise and attacks on traditional democratic institutions. It’s a post-truth period where conspiracy theories and crackpot ideas flourish. If the facts conflict with someone’s sense of identity or political ideology, then the facts are disposable. They can be replaced with notions that feel better or reverberate on social media.
This latest outbreak of anti-intellectualism is particularly disturbing because the stakes of stupidity have increased. Climate-change deniers put the planet’s viability in peril, anti-vaccinators subject their children to dangerous diseases, and a new breed of isolationists threatens the international partnerships that have contained tyrants and terrorists. When false beliefs are widespread, they can lead to trouble. Ultimately, the truth slaps us in the face, striking blows that hurt even more when it’s too late to protect against them.
What is the proper role for colleges in this age of widespread deception and gullibility, Nietzel asks: “Do they bear a responsibility to combat fraudulent claims, to sort the real from the fake? Can colleges prepare students to base their beliefs on evidence rather than preference? Can they help them become skeptical of overt lies and subtle propaganda?”
He argues that colleges need to embrace this obligation, because not to do so would be to neglect the fundamental duty to educate students about the world and how it works, teaching them to upgrade their beliefs on the basis of accumulated knowledge.
What is the best way to achieve this goal of making young students less susceptible to dangerous s stupidities such as climate change denialism and anti-vaccination conspiracy theories? Some would suggest the head-on approach: Nietzel notes that at the University of Washington, professors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West offer Calling Bullshit: Data Reasoning in a Digital World, a course that teaches students how to detect b.s. and combat it with accurate analysis. Its syllabus has been shared with dozens of colleges across the United States.
