You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts

[tangaroa]

Jonathan Wallace at the Ethical Spectacle has an excellent essay on truth and perceptions in arguments and our understanding of history and the present world. Excerpt:

[To the notion that "one thing may be true for me and another may be true for you":] Suppose we are both sailors on one of Christopher Colombus' ships, say the Pinta [...] Would it matter if I believe more fervently in a flat earth than you do in a round one? Or if more people on board were round earthers than flat earthers? Is reality a democracy? Perhaps "my" Pinta falls off the world’s edge, and "yours" sails to America?