"If truth doesn't matter, we're lost" - Adam Schiff during president Trump's impeachment trial.
Truth has always mattered to me. The biggest reason I majored in mathematics and minored in philosophy during my undergrad is that they are both based purely in logic, the universal truth. Pure logic is truth in its most basic form. Mathematics is applied logic and it is true no matter what. No matter who you are. No matter where you are. It's one of the very few things we can truly know for sure. I found and still find comfort in this pure logic and pure truth. When it comes to the rest of the world however, it's a little bit harder to discern the truth.
Truth matters. If it didn't, our decision making process would break down. Humans (those who are sane) make decisions based on what we perceive to be true. We take this perceived truth and then judge or act based on what feels 'right'.
Most of the time we can't use pure logic to figure out if something is true or not. This is why we need science and statistics. But, unless you're an expert in the field in which something has been proven scientifically, you may not understand the reasoning for something being a scientifically fact. In this case, you likely need to rely on the experts to tell you what the truth is. This is where trust comes in. Trust of an expert is therefore required in order for you to make a proper decision.
Humans who are selfish may choose to spread lies and misinformation and claim it as truth. The more popularity you have, the more likely people are to believe you. It doesn't matter that you aren't an expert. The same goes for something you respect or look up to, such as a parent. If you mother or father claims to know a truth, you are likely to believe them.
Truth is a funny thing. If it it is pure logic or Math, it is always true. Many other things that are true today may not be true tomorrow. This is why it's important to always question the supposed truth.
When talking about truth, I always think about the famous line from A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson's character shouts, "You can't handle the truth!!". Sadly, I feel this is the case sometimes. Some people cannot handle certain truths. Sometimes, despite evidence and sound proof refuse to believe what's true. Often, the truth is very inconvenient.
An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary about climate change. The sad truth is that humans are a huge cause of the abnormal increase in global warming. It's inconvenient because in order to fix it, we need to make dramatic changes. Many of us don't like much change, so we try to shield ourselves from the truth, hoping it will change if we wait long enough.
Currently, we have politicians spreading large amounts of misinformation and either creating or bolstering current conspiracy theories without any personal consequences. Ironically it seems that the people who are complaining the most about so called, 'fake news' are the ones who are spewing the fake facts. Any normal person at any normal job would immediately be fired for such a lack of respect for the truth.
So, what's true and what's not? Unfortunately it's not often easy to determine. You need to rely on 'trustworthy' news sources. Who do you trust?
I feel many people are more trusting in general than they should be. Just because someone is in a position of power doesn't mean they are always telling the truth. Just because someone is speaking on national television doesn't mean what they are saying is true. Sadly, even if they have proper credentials such as a PhD, you still need to be careful.
Many of our parents lied to us about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. We believe they existed because our parents said they did. Some of us worked this out for ourselves, but some people believed up until the point their parents broke the news. If Santa and the Easter bunny aren't real, what about God? This is what I expected my parents to reveal to me next. Hey guess what kids? God isn't real either! This never happened, but I worked it out for myself. My parents still believe in God, I think. I think it' because their parents believed in God and their parents before them. If you trust someone, you believe anything they tell you (for the most part).
No matter how confident someone may seem when they make a claim, you should not believe them without proof or sound argument. This is what scares me about (some) religious people. They believe in something without any proof. What's preventing them from believing other things without proof? Some religious folks are able to separate their faith or religion from rational thinking, but many are not.
Ideally, we'd have an independent fact-checking agency. Imagine if politicians were called out for telling lies during televised debates? I think a large problem however is, how would you prevent this agency from becoming corrupted? We're supposed to be able to trust our government, but government officials also lie to us.
I don't know what the solution is, but I think I want to spend the rest of my life trying to find one.
Resources:
FiveThirtyEight article on how Americans are fed believable falsehoods:
BuzzFeed fact-checking:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/election-rumors-debunked
Christian Science Monitor tips on stopping misinformation:
Adam Schiff's speech during President Trump's impeachment trial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa8s4G_7PQk
Short version within NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000006940070/schiff-impeachment-truth.html
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