We are entering a dark age of fake news, phony facts, and false history.

It has long been known that truth is the first casualty of war. Recently, truth has become the first casualty of partisan politics. And it’s getting worse, as both sides move away from the center and toward the extreme right and extreme left.

The history of extremism is the history of abusing truth in the interest of ideology. Every extreme selects the “Truth” that justifies its ideology and creates facts to support that “Truth.” The objectivity of science is seen as the enemy, unless it produces facts favorable to the cause. Extremists not only blind themselves to unfavorable facts, they take steps to assure that these facts are suppressed, censored, and shouted down.

Consider today’s campuses, where hard — left extremists seek to justify the suppression of speech with which they disagree. Recently at Middlebury College, a controversial scholar named Charles Murray was invited to speak by a group of conservative students. Radical leftists didn’t want any students to hear his views, so they decided to prevent him from speaking by shouting him down.

Here’s the way New York Times columnist Frank Bruni described what happened: “Chanting that Murray was ‘racist, sexist, anti — gay,’ the students wouldn’t let him talk. And when he and the professor moved their planned interchange to a private room where it could be recorded on camera, protesters disrupted that, too, by pulling fire alarms and banging on windows. A subsequent confrontation between some of them and Murray grew physical enough that the professor with him sought medical treatment for a wrenched neck.”

I have experienced similar efforts to prevent me from expressing pro — Israel views at the flagship state universities of California and Massachusetts. At Faneuil Hall in Boston — the birthplace of American liberty — I had to be rescued by local police from an angry mob of hard — left students determined to physically assault me because of my views on Israel. (I support a two — state solution and the end of settlement activity, but to anti — Israel extremists, I am a “Zionfascist.”)

“Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, this tendency to discount science in favor of petty partisanship and fixed dogma persists.”

These radical leftists — they call themselves “progressives,” but many of them are repressives — know “the Truth.” And they see no reason to ruin a good ideology with bad facts. This is how a statement by the student Stalinists at Middlebury — supported by some professors — tried to justify the violent censorship of Murray and his ideas (which they called “hate speech”): “This is not respectful discourse, or a debate about free speech. These are not ideas that can be fairly debated, it is not ‘representative’ of the other side to give a platform to such dangerous ideologies. There is not a potential for an equal exchange of ideas…. Science has always been used to legitimize racism, sexism, classism, transphobia, ableism, and homophobia, all veiled as rational and fact, and supported by the government and state. In this world today, there is little that is true ‘fact.’”

Among some right — wing extremists, there is a similar rejection of truth, science, and contrary facts, though generally without the violence. Examples are climate change, evolution, sexual freedom, reproductive rights, and religion. Partisan politics has led many on the far right to act as if they have a monopoly on truth and righteousness. They reject evidence — based facts that undercut their ideology. President Trump has made a career based on rejection of evidence, beginning with documented evidence that Barack Obama was born in the U.S., and most recently evidence that he was never “wiretapped” by President Obama.

Extreme right — wing climate change deniers continue to reject the scientific consensus that the warming of the Earth is at least partly human — induced. Candidate Trump called climate change “a Chinese hoax.” Scott Pruitt — the newly appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency — has argued that “scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.” Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, this tendency to discount science in favor of petty partisanship and fixed dogma persists.

Right — wing ideologue Pete Nielsen played fast and loose with the facts when he stated that the “trauma” of rape prevents women from getting pregnant. When pressed on the actual hard facts, the Idaho lawmaker said, “Being a father of five girls, I’ve explored this a lot.” Congressman Trent Franks echoed this sentiment, saying that incidences of rape resulting in pregnancy are “very low.” This was in the face of numerous medical associations and experts coming out forcefully with contrary research.

Right — wing gun advocates deny any correlation between easy access to guns and gun violence, despite convincing evidence to the contrary. And biblical fundamentalists insist that God created all life exactly as it now exists, less than 6,000 years ago, despite fossil evidence to the contrary.

The objectivity of scientific facts — and those who adhere to them — is often viewed as “the enemy,” which in turn breeds vitriolic and hyperbolic rhetoric, intellectual intolerance, and encourages the formation of a self — contained echo chamber.

This is a dangerous development. Both Hitler and Stalin began by burning books, and ended by burning people. We are not, thankfully, at that point. But if the hard — left students (who believe science is the enemy of their concept of justice) and the hard — right ideologues (who believe science is the enemy of their concept of truth) manage to get their ways, we are in for a dark age of repression.

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