A picture is worth a thousand words. That well-worn idiom is popular because it is true. A cleverly designed picture can be instantly absorbed, while the written word takes time to both read and understand the same message. While all pictures don’t have the same power, a well crafted image can deliver a punch that hits the viewer immediately.

Social media thrives on pictures, and there are millions of clever memes circulating that include every topic of importance. That is good in the sense that they can convey big ideas quickly and without much effort. It is also bad because they can convey big ideas quickly and without much effort.

Big ideas are big because they impinge in some major way on the lives of many people. They don’t, however, have to be true, they don’t have to be humane, they don’t have to be right. They only have to be captivating. A powerful message that feeds the prejudices and fears of a mass of people may be widely shared among those who agree. Likewise a pleasant message that pulls at heart strings. Both are ignored or mocked by those who don’t agree. Memes are thus not well-suited for convincing intellectual opponents of their error.

That, in itself is not bad. What is bad is that it allows a shallow understanding to masquerade as deep wisdom. It allows people to defend their positions without having to develop a depth of knowledge required by hearty debate. It appears that we are becoming a nation, and a world, of meme-thinkers who lack the true wisdom that can come only from spending time digging in, reading, listening, watching, and learning from those who laid the foundations for understanding, including those with whom you disagree.

Sometimes the quick memes can generate a good discussion on their merits and failures, with honest critique and a search by all parties for greater understanding of the underlying ideas. All too often, however, it devolves into one line zingers and insults meant to hurt or belittle. That is unfortunate, but it is not that surprising. It seems like a lot of people have not learned to argue with facts and logic, but rather only to respond with feelings.

The difficulty is that, while some things may be objectively true, such as actual global temperatures, the measurements might not accurately reflect that truth for a number of important reasons. More importantly, our interpretation of the facts, however accurately measured, depends on a vast web of underlying assumptions that we have built up over a lifetime that often remain hidden, from ourselves and from others. Interpretations of facts are not facts, yet they are often treated as such.

A powerful meme, a picture with a pointed message, has a whole host of underlying assumptions built into it. It affects people powerfully, both positively and negatively, to the extent that it does or doesn’t align with the viewers own framework of understanding. If the interpretation can fit comfortably within that framework, it is embraced. If it doesn’t, it is not.

To the extent that the pictures present a starting point for a discussion with mutual respect for opposing views, it can be a positive experience. If it simply inflames strong feelings without regard to truth, it can be a divider. It is far too easy to fall for feelings over understanding. That seems to be why politicians can get away with the things that they do. They are experts at arousing feelings. This nation will heal and unify when people start to respect the truth, when they deal with reality instead of just feelings, when they start thinking for themselves rather than having others think for them.

Dan McLaughlin is the author of “Compassion and Truth-Why Good Intentions Don’t Equal Good Results.” Follow him at daniel-mclaughlin.com.