Michael Bérubé defines one of the most important power blocs in contemporary America as “a low-information conservative constituency.” It’s a stunningly precise and pithy description.
First, “low-information” is a universal term. For example: the governments of Cuba and North Korea carefully cultivate low-information constituencies. The executives of Regnery Publishing and Fox News do likewise.
Second, it’s not a slur. All of us are lacking information, usually through no fault or deficiency of our own. Whether you have two PhD’s or never finished grammar school, whether you’re a valorous hero or a selfish coward, you will find yourself, again and again, lacking information.
Finally, information is not opinion. The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan is credited with saying: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Information is the bedrock of political discourse. In modern times, even the most tyrannical dictatorships keep their newspapers open to lend their propaganda a patina of truth.
In our most heated political debates, we can say “get your facts straight” but we can seldom get away with saying “just trust me, OK?”
The proper political response to someone who lacks information is clarity, knowledge, persistence and sympathy. The proper political response to someone who shuns information is the same with one additional measure: ridicule.