# The Tyranny of Facts

![A breathtaking farm on the Delta](../images/659d1ff78b5f.png)\
Earlier this month, I spent a week touring the Mississippi Delta and
exploring its blues tradition. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of
blues. If you’re into it, [I made a Spotify playlist to get you
started](https://open.spotify.com/user/seanblanda/playlist/0cUOS4KvhSXkxn3R2xdxsN?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts).\
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### ***Personal Updates:***

**I’ve increasingly been obsessed with the divisive rhetoric of our
time, the bifurcated reality it seems to create, **and what we as
individuals can do to disagree better. My latest: [The Tyranny of Facts:
Being “Right” is Not
Enough](https://medium.com/@SeanBlanda/the-tyranny-of-facts-being-right-is-not-enough-3bc4513d690a?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts#.62srwtur8).
The premise: Sharing facts with our opponents should be enough to
convince them. But when was the last time you did a 180 from a poll,
study, or fact that someone shared? Debating and discussing
controversial topics is much more complicated than that.\
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*- Also: There's an entire other school of thought that suggests that
our "facts" aren't even all that "fact-y." Take, for example, this
comical take on [how statistics can be
manipulated](https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/07/13/why-not-to-trust-statistics/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts).\
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- Also also: Why do historians and professors think they can judge the
"historical ramifications" of what is happening [in real
time](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/opinion/sunday/professors-stop-opining-about-trump.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts)?*\
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**When a news event like Brexit occurs and totally floors you, you ever
wonder why?** I’ve launched a new side project titled “[Well,
Actually](http://tinyletter.com/WellActually/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts)”
a newsletter that surfaces the best writing from viewpoints that you’re
not reading. First issue was on Brexit, check that
[here](http://tinyletter.com/WellActually/letters/01-brexit?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts).
The next one will be out in a week or so — so subscribe
[here](http://tinyletter.com/WellActually/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts).
I'm aiming to send one out every month-ish, as the news cycle allows.\
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**I was on *Bloomberg* Markets’ "Odd Lots" podcast** ([~20 mins, listen
here](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-18/odd-lots-why-the-world-is-increasingly-divided-into-ideological-bubbles?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts))
to discuss the virtues of considering the “Other Side.” We touched on
Brexit, how we can solve the terrible state of online discourse, and why
this doesn’t just apply to the cosmopolitan/non-cosmopolitan axis.\
\
**I was ALSO on “Through Process,” a podcast** ([~50 mins, listen
here](http://throughprocess.com/archive/2016/07/19/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts))
for designers, design students, and educators to discuss [my essay on
the “Bullshit Industrial
Complex”](http://99u.com/articles/53863/the-creative-worlds-bullshit-industrial-complex?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts)
with a side of career advice. Since publishing that essay I’ve changed
my mind on some of its points, and I expand upon them in the
conversation with hosts Mitch and Joshua. We also discuss the question I
ponder every week of my working life: Are conferences worth it?\
\
*Total aside, but a goal of mine is to get better at articulating my
ideas on the fly in the interview format, like the podcasts above. All
constructive/entertaining criticism welcome!*

### ***The links:***

**Long read alert**: Chuck Close has become a bit of a patron saint to
us at 99U, with his enviable creative output and catchy [quips on
creativity](https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/166434.Chuck_Close?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts).
But as he enters the twilight of his life, he's upended everything:
those he keeps close to him, where he lives, and how he works. *The New
York Times*, [profiles the aging
legendary artist](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/magazine/the-mysterious-metamorphosis-of-chuck-close.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts),
and why we humans sometimes thrash around when faced with the prospect
of our end. \
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**Bomani Jones is one of my favorite writers of late,** often
writing and speaking about sports, race, and American culture in a
bracing way (I highly recommend [his Twitter
account](https://twitter.com/bomani_jones?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts)).
And in the wake of the events of the past few weeks there's been a
bubbling discussion: Where is Ta-Nehisi Coates? [Jones heads to Paris to
interview Coats for
*Playboy*](http://www.playboy.com/articles/playboy-interview-ta-nehisi-coates?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts)
(no NSFW material but your work network may block the domain). Choice
moment on whether Coats is frustrated about being seen as "the voice"
for Black America: "A book can’t carry the entire weight of all the
nuance and texture of the black community. It’s just one dude who not
too long ago was on unemployment. What people need to do is read other
folks. This is not the only African American memoir. There’s other stuff
out there that should be explored."\
\
**Turns out Millennials like the *idea* of being an entrepreneur** way
more than [*actually* starting a
business](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/the-myth-of-the-millennial-entrepreneur/490058/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts).
So, we don't vote AND don't start businesses? C'mon guys!\
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*- Related: 99% of all recent job growth [has gone to Americans with
some college
experience](http://qz.com/721854/why-everyone-is-so-mad-99-of-post-recession-jobs-went-to-those-who-went-to-college/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts). *\
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**Long-time newsletter subscribers know that we're strictly against all
Scandinavia/USA comparisons around here**. The latest: a video that
wonders "[Why isn't bicycling in the US like biking in
Denmark?](https://www.facebook.com/attn/videos/1089674844401307/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts)"
One reason: Denmark is little smaller than the combined land mass of
Vermont and New Hampshire. While America is, you know, way bigger and
not navigable by bike. Only 40 percent of Danes [own a
car](http://www.cycling-embassy.dk/facts-about-cycling-in-denmark/statistics/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts),
while the [US clocks in at around 80
percent](http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-ihs-automotive-average-age-car-20140609-story.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts).
So if we shrink the size of the country dramatically and take half of
our cars off the road, sure, maybe we could be more like Denmark.\
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🚨🚨🚨  **White straight guy writing about identity politics alert
🚨**🚨🚨 But what if gender isn't a spectrum? [What if it really is
binary](https://aeon.co/essays/the-idea-that-gender-is-a-spectrum-is-a-new-gender-prison?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts)?
I've been thinking a lot about the role identity has in solving or not
solving conflicts. The idea: compromising means, by definition, giving
up part of our identity (i.e. "Being against new taxes is part of who I
am!") So do we need to give up parts of our identity to solve problems
with people that don't share our identity? Would love any smart thoughts
or writing you've come across here!\
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**Ending on a positive note**: what are the best parts about America?
Reddit [asks some first generation
immigrants](http://www.aei.org/publication/the-best-things-about-life-in-america-according-to-immigrants/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts).
You'll never take a free public restroom for granted again.\
 

### *Official Newsletter Flag (for now):*

![The flag of the DR](../images/19a88b5bb521.png)

\
I've never been to the Dominican Republic, but boy do I enjoy its flag.
First, it is the rare bird that has the flag on its flag (yes, [so you
can flag while you
flag](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-tyranny-of-facts)).
Additionally, see that open book in the coat of arms? The constitution
mandates that it's a Bible that when you zoom in a bunch, displays a
passage from the Gospel of John 8:32 "conocerán la verdad, y la verdad
los hará libres" or (according to Wikipedia) "and will know the truth
and the truth will set you free."\
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Knowing you read and enjoy this newsletter sets me free,\
Sean Blanda