Look at the remarkably effective and remarkably inaccurate campaign Donald Trump has waged in the US: While Trump’s falsehoods are well documented, especially by his opponent Hillary Clinton, it’s surprising that politicians ever bother to try and make fact-based arguments. The only reason politicians might occasionally use facts in the first place is if they are attempting to achieve a specific political goal. Facts are annoying, but they’re useful if you want to prove a specific point.
If, however, you have no real vision for where your country is heading, then dreamy nostalgia is a much more pleasant potion to peddle. This is especially true if you don’t feel like working on the difficult, often incremental steps that push societies forward; it’s much easier to wallow in invented pasts then plan for the future. It’s no coincidence that the politicians who most dislike facts are also the most enthusiastic nostalgists. [...]
In the UK’s referendum to leave the European Union, both sides were brazen in their banishment of boring facts. In one striking example, Brexit leader Michael Gove announced that the country was “sick of experts.” Advocates of the winning Brexit campaign instead called for a reuniting of the British Empire in the form of an “Anglosphere” and a return to an ethnically pure England.
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