Politics Trumps Facts? Is Rational Discourse Still an Option? "Motivated Skepticism" vs. Reasonable Civility

What kind of evidence counts?  Who decides?

See George Lakoff "Elephant in the Room" etc.

What happens if we allow reason and facts to die?  


Ezra Klein: Why does the GOP oppose stimulus? Ask a psychologist. - The Washington Post: "I don’t believe this sort of behavior is quite that cynical. Psychologists and political scientists talk often of a phenomenon known as motivated skepticism. The idea, basically, is that we believe the evidence and arguments we want to believe, and reject ideas and information that undercut our preferences."

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Photo of "Men with ivory tusks, Dar Es Salaam" between 1880 and 1923, from United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3c02973.
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By Frank G. and Frances Carpenter
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