Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for November 03, 2022

Don’t let the truth get in the way of a conspiracy theory.

Allow me to oblige you, Rat: You’re a beautiful person, and everyone likes you.

unfortunately, common sense and common ground are not always mutually inclusive…

People like being told that they will go to heaven. Did the minister at Jeffrey Dahmer’s funeral reassure his parents that he was in heaven now.

It’s really very simple, you know. Actual facts are FAR too limiting, and no fun besides. People just want to be “free” to believe what suits them, what they want to believe (including religion). Lies totally offer that. Unshackled as they are from truth and reality, lies can be crafted to perfectly satisfy the needs and wishes of the target audience. Win! Truth (and science), which can never honestly claim to be 100% correct, seems to want to “force” people to accept the unacceptable, be it political reality, or the reality about their religious whimsies, or the truth about themselves. There’s always going to be a significant percentage of people who, even though they know perfectly well that what they’ve accepted are lies, will very much prefer those sweet, reassuring, and vindicating lies to the hard, uncaring truth.

In short, emotion and lies can reliably Trump truth walking away…

That great theologian/philosopher Paul Simon captured it perfectly: “A man hears only what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”

“It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.” – Jonathan Swift

To quote Winona Ryder, “reality bites!” (Although i am pretty DARN certain that that “title” was NEVER actually uttered during the run-time of that mind-numbing, god-awful flick!!!!)

No matter which news source, the facts are distorted by the bias and ignorance of the news staff.

If ignorance is bliss, then how silly it is to borrow your neighbor’s newspaper.

I doubt the accuracy of the opening line. I think the notorious Matt Walsh tweet on the democrat party “closing argument” highlights the differences.

People’s (Rats) perspective of the facts are all that matter, never let the truth get in the way!

You and I.

Now all we need to do is decide who is mis-informed.

Right-wing populism can’t handle the truth.

“You and I," Goat. “You and I,” in that usage.

Is Rat a MAGA republican?

Rat LOVES FAUX Noise.

Goat, just remember what Mark Twain said: “Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.”

I don’t watch the news, because I don’t care. Am I becoming like Rat?

I quit watching and reading the ‘news’. Now, not only am I no longer being misinformed, I am much, much happier.

According to Rat, lies make the world go around.

“You and I are…” not “You and me are…”

I’d settle for Goat using proper grammar: “You and I are so far apart….”

Rat is a silent partner in Twitter. He has a platform to spread the plague of misinformation.

“You and I…”

RAT and his pack don’t care about truth…they just like to lie, plunder and pillage just because their emperor with no clothes tells them to…

I used to think people must know that misinformation is false, but the number who don’t care enough to verify what they believe is depressingly large.

Yeah. . . .

Also, why would Goat of all people use me as a subject? It’s really disconcerting coming from him.

Rat the Republican.

there are times I feel like Rat may be a happier state of mind

Facts are facts and demonstrably true. All facts, are however, are subject to interpretation via being processed through the mental filters of observer(s).

And 46.9% of the country was solidly in Rat’s camp.

Fox: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Quite unlike that Walter Cronkite. Signed, The Donald.

With defeat looming and control of the narrative slipping away, insults are on the rise, just like crime on city streets

Crime is highest down South in states ruled by Republicans.Watch your gold teeth in Texas.

Such insanity of untruths….. Get it together, stoopid humans!

Unquestioning belief is much more comforting than the doubt that always accompanies the pursuit of facts.

Be like Rat is an huge temptation.

As Darth Putin has pointed out, “We didn’t do this propaganda to make you believe something, it was to make you believe nothing. Then you will do nothing.”

I can’t believe Goat said, “You and me are so ….” That’s the first time I’ve ever heard Goat say something grammatically incorrect.

Goat is speaking colloquially, so “you and me” is acceptable.

So, Rat’s a Trumper?

“You and me….”? Is it possible to use proper grammar in comics anymore?

Seriously, Rat? Knowing the truth when others are floundering in misinformation can be a Survival Skill….

Truth is what you believe. Misinformation is what someone who disagrees with you believes.

Contrary to popular belief, ignorance is not bliss.