Mind’s set in a whirl

I recall something I heard years ago regarding political arguments and media coverage of such events. It said, “I have become convinced only the annals of psychiatry can offer an answer why some people get certain beliefs hard-wired into their brains such that there is no chance that new facts will stop old neurons from flowing down well-worn pathways to familiar conclusions.”

That thought came as I watched the confirmation hearings for Judge Barrett. It was a learning experience, but in light of what has been going on the last four years, my mind is in a whirl. The different versions of events being presented were remarkable in the way the same facts could be presented to generate such opposite conclusions.

This was an eye-opener because you could hear it all in alternate 30-minute segments. It reminded me of medieval theological arguments that could be summed up thusly: “Many a dispute among divines may thus be abridged: It is so, it is not so. It is so, it is not so …”

I am not suggesting there was no substance or real concerns expressed, but for the one in the dock, the contrast was striking. It was now or never, win or lose, no compromise. It was a microcosm of the political environment in which we are living. It is an Alicein-Wonderland world, where words can have any meaning we want them to have, with the end justifying the means. Fortunately for the human race, there is still enough sensibility and maturity among us that most doomsday scenarios never turn out as predicted. We can continue to speak out or hunker down and let this storm ride itself out until the eye of the hurricane passes. In the meanwhile, sing with the optimism of Orphan Annie, “The sun will come out tomorrow,” as it surely will. CLARENCE RICHMOND Searcy