One of my conservative acquaintances emailed this cartoon to me. He doesn’t read newspapers, so he’s probably unaware that ISIS is being bombed by American jets dispatched by President Obama. Do you wonder how conservatives manage to be so oblivious to reality? I’m struck by how they sequester themselves inside a bubble, like an Amazon tribe trying to preserve its way of life by pretending the outside world doesn’t exist. When you confront them about something as plainly inaccurate as this cartoon is, they shrug and pretend they didn’t hear, and go right on believing what they want to believe. They pass myths to and fro among themselves, often by email, and depend on mutual support to “uphold the faith,” i.e., keep believing nonsense. Do liberals do this, too? Sure we do, human nature being what it is. Which is why we need to keep reminding ourselves to maintain open and questioning minds.