Public discussion of Cuba

The lies by omission of the Cuban-American right

     In my online communications with respect to Cuba, I sometimes encounter responses from Cuban-Americans that go something like this: my grandfather had his property taken by the revolution; family members of mine were killed by the revolution; and/or I have cousins languishing in prison in Cuba.  As a member of a Cuban family that had to flee the island, the message continues, I know the true character of the Cuban Revolution; and you, as a person of European descent, have no idea concerning what Cuba is.

     In reflecting on the caustic and divisive public discourse in the United States with respect to a number of issues, Jonathon Rauch writes there are principles that ought to guide public debate and the search for understanding.  One of them is that all claims of fact have to be validated in some way, and this is often done by some social network that investigates the claim with an open mind, seeking to identify errors of fact (albeit with limitations inherent in broad cultural…