It's a common meme, Ben Shapiro's infamous catchphrase “facts don't care about your feelings”. And it's easy to laugh it off as another aphorism by an out-of-touch, fast-talking public intellectual. But facts do not in fact care about your feelings.

2 plus 2 is 4, whether you like it or not. I don't like the fact that 2 plus 2 is 4, but I have to work with it in order for the world to cooperate with me. It's very important to understand how things work in order to live in harmony with your environment.

Conversely, feelings don't care about your facts. It is incredibly inappropriate to tell a grieving wife to “get over it, death is inevitable, yada yada yada”. That is the height of emotional and social ignorance. You have to put your facts aside for a moment and empathise.

Facts and feelings are two valid states in which the world operates. The material and external world runs on physics, chemistry, biology, and electricity. And the social and internal world runs on laughter, tears, compassion, and understanding.

Know which world you're in at all times, and work with the right tools accordingly.

Aug. 23, 2025, 11:27 a.m.

Written bY CYril