Lately, especially in recent years with the rise of global Trumpism, it has come to seem that facts, simple facts, have become a form of ideology. We have become so confused that stating certain truths now seems like a political option, as if politics didn't have to start from truths, but could even be imposed upon them.
Hence, a certain esoteric right wing has come to speak of 'alternative facts,' or of 'your truth,' opposed to other forms of truth, which would always inevitably be subjective. The enlightened left should come with the light of reason to see things as they are, but the right has so poisoned the ground and the discourse that it prefers denial or supporting other forms of esotericism, like anyone who goes hand in hand with identity politics.
There are things that are a matter of opinion, certainly, about which we are never quite sure; And then there are things that either are or aren't, like unemployment figures, the effectiveness of vaccines, whether it rains or not, or whether certain decisions cost human lives or have an effect on the collective state. It's pointless to argue about whether the moon is made of cheese or not, but a completely absurd market for matters of opinion has been created (thanks mainly to social media), turning things that should simply be facts into objects of debate. How we position ourselves with respect to this data is politics. And it's clear that immigration can pose a problem, but whether or not a certain 'degradation of public services' is a problem, for example, is a political decision, and how we respond to it is also a political matter. We can define the problem in many ways, and we can also deny it, as some on the left do, changing the subject if they can't change things; just as we can remedy it in many ways, depending on our ideology, that is, our values.
But what to do when certain facts, emphasized to the point of exhaustion, seem to bolster far-right positions, support their arguments, or when their mere acceptance becomes a form of endorsement of their worldview? The populist right relentlessly champions data, often attempting to imbue it with an aura of irrefutable objectivity, such as data that links crime to immigration, or immigration and the Muslim religion—or certain foreign nationalities—with crimes like drug trafficking or sexual assault against women. It's unacceptable that issues, just issues, become an ideology, as if the desire to engage with or avoid certain things already defines one's political stance. We cannot allow the right to co-opt certain debates, nor can we allow certain postmodern left-wing groups to do the same. Reality and problems are what they are, above any ideology, which shouldn't be a way of seeing the world but a set of options for improving it, always knowing that nothing is infallible.
