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

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?