“Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality. In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, propositions, and declarative sentences. Truth is usually held to be the opposite of falsehood.” - Wikipedia
All too often in today’s world, truth is the property of being in accord with whatever set of facts tends to support our individual concept of reality. In other words, truth is what we make it or how we view the compilation of evidence presented to us.
The trick then is to seek a body of information sufficient to allow us to come to a reasonable proximity of the “truth” devoid of personal prejudice or expectation. Any way you cut it, that’s a tall order. We, being constrained by the handicap of being human, rarely dig deeper than the information we need to support our personal belief. Politicians use this to great advantage by employing whole armies of silver-tongued minions to wrap fact and fiction into a portrait appealing to constituents…or donors. Morphing the apparent facts into a saleable version of the truth is big business in today’s world.
One way to detect a potential defect in logic is by observing the prolific repetition of catch phrases or buzz words. “On the right side of history” is one in common use today. Frankly, there is absolutely no way to tell what the “right side” of history will be unless you plan to stick around for another hundred plus years to find out. There are others that you hear all the time that are, by design, targeting your noggin for a partisan purpose.
Entertaining an idea or position and weighing it against other sources is different from endorsing or supporting that ideology or concept. Rejecting input out of hand is the very definition of being narrow minded.
The road to peace rests not in the battle lines of debate but it the neutral ground where reason, logic, and careful consideration consult with each other. It is easy to make a noise, to hold a position, to look at the world through a narrow conceptual keyhole. It is far harder to be a peacemaker and a voice of balanced reason. Given a choice…be a peacemaker.
All too often in today’s world, truth is the property of being in accord with whatever set of facts tends to support our individual concept of reality. In other words, truth is what we make it or how we view the compilation of evidence presented to us.
The trick then is to seek a body of information sufficient to allow us to come to a reasonable proximity of the “truth” devoid of personal prejudice or expectation. Any way you cut it, that’s a tall order. We, being constrained by the handicap of being human, rarely dig deeper than the information we need to support our personal belief. Politicians use this to great advantage by employing whole armies of silver-tongued minions to wrap fact and fiction into a portrait appealing to constituents…or donors. Morphing the apparent facts into a saleable version of the truth is big business in today’s world.
One way to detect a potential defect in logic is by observing the prolific repetition of catch phrases or buzz words. “On the right side of history” is one in common use today. Frankly, there is absolutely no way to tell what the “right side” of history will be unless you plan to stick around for another hundred plus years to find out. There are others that you hear all the time that are, by design, targeting your noggin for a partisan purpose.
Entertaining an idea or position and weighing it against other sources is different from endorsing or supporting that ideology or concept. Rejecting input out of hand is the very definition of being narrow minded.
The road to peace rests not in the battle lines of debate but it the neutral ground where reason, logic, and careful consideration consult with each other. It is easy to make a noise, to hold a position, to look at the world through a narrow conceptual keyhole. It is far harder to be a peacemaker and a voice of balanced reason. Given a choice…be a peacemaker.
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