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A visionary analysis of the way the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degration of the public sphere to build an environment dangerously hostile to reason
At that time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television advertisements that played to fears of terrorism.
We stay in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most effective force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of the administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the reality with the citizenry. Linked to this and of sustained concern is this administration's disinterest along the way by which the simple truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first included in this an embrace of open inquiry where unexpected and even inconvenient facts can result in unexpected conclusions.
How did we get here? Just how much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for all of us to lose the capability to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health insurance and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we've precious short amount of time to waste.
Gore's larger goal in this book is to make clear the way the public sphere itself has evolved into a location hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more alert to the forces at the job on our own minds, and lead us to a knowledge of what we should can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.
At that time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television advertisements that played to fears of terrorism.
We stay in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most effective force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of the administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the reality with the citizenry. Linked to this and of sustained concern is this administration's disinterest along the way by which the simple truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first included in this an embrace of open inquiry where unexpected and even inconvenient facts can result in unexpected conclusions.
How did we get here? Just how much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for all of us to lose the capability to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health insurance and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we've precious short amount of time to waste.
Gore's larger goal in this book is to make clear the way the public sphere itself has evolved into a location hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more alert to the forces at the job on our own minds, and lead us to a knowledge of what we should can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.
