The most fertile ground for the formation of ideas, in other words, is one relatively barren of facts. As facts add up, ideas tend to go down. Facts, bloody damn facts, get in the way of conjecture, speculation, delightful mental footwork of all kinds. Facts, we say with a shrug, are facts.
Facts are ugly, thorny things. Ideas are velvety and suave, and bring comfort by suggesting that our understanding of -- and hence control over -- the world is on the rise. Ideas can be immensely seductive. What a beautiful idea it is, for example, to bring democracy to Araby! And then arise the obdurate facts of rancorous tribalism to destroy the seduction.
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