Letter: Denialism is preferred option

Published 1:30 am Sunday, June 7, 2026

Editor,

When you’re faced with an uncomfortable truth, denialism is there to help. Empirical evidence can easily be shredded and discarded by simply rejecting reality. It’s working for Trump. He firmly believes that Eugene Debs was simply confused when in 1897 he said, “We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough.”

The data showing that the concentration of wealth determines policy outcomes must be flawed. It’s working for Bayer. They’re still saying Rachel Carson was demented. It seems to be working for petroleum producers too. As of February 2026, the EPA repealed the scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health and the environment.

It’s also working for the Department of War. They’re adamant that Eisenhower was wrong. The military industrial complex is not a pox on our democracy. Its primary focus has always been on promoting world peace, particularly in the Middle East.

The idea that animals experience joy and pain and fear must be fervently denied. They are just mechanisms, not conscious beings: products meant to be consumed. To believe otherwise would be a rejection of our current dietary imperative that says animal protein is normal, necessary and needed. Denialism will tell you quite forcefully to not listen to the science. Science is where bias hides.

Verrall Hoover

Langley