When Fallacies and Fantasies Replace Reality

Why vegans were well-prepared for the promotion of nonsense about COVID

While it may seem like we’ve had a collective leave of our senses with the increasingly far-fetched and downright unhinged notions COVID deniers, truthers and down-players have been spouting for months, the fact is that denying what is plain as day and asking people to instead believe in implausibilities didn’t just pop up out of thin air. In the U.S. at least, there is a historic precedence for abandoning observable reality in favor of embracing make-believe: the American dream itself, a core conceit of this country, is the stuff of pure fantasy. If you dare to try to insert some reality into that feel-good reverie, though, you are labeled a killjoy and that in itself is a social pressure because our culture loves the impression of optimism, truth be damned.

It’s not just the U.S. that promotes a belief in false notions, though: many cultures and belief systems encourage people to accept fiction over fact, whether it’s about one’s innate superiority based on race, accepting tales of miracles in religious faiths or indulging in superstitions. We are not always the rational beings we imagine ourselves to be. That’s actually okay, perhaps part of the nature of the human animal, as long as we’re honest about it. We should just…