Truth. It’s only a five letter word. And the definition in my handy dandy desk dictionary is pretty simple: 1) Being true; specifically; a) sincerity, honesty b) conformity with fact c) reality; actual existence d) correctness, accuracy 2) That which is true 3) An established fact.
In this season of political blustering, debates and airwave saturation it seems that Truth is an elusive commodity. We pay attention to a political debate between two or more candidates chasing office at any level of government. We think we hear facts. We would like to think that these candidates are honest and sincere as they cite their records or pick away at their opponents records or public statements. But the next day we go to some dot-com version of a fact checking service and find out that candidate number one didn’t quite get too close to the truth on his statistics about this or that issue. And candidate number two didn’t actually vote against a particular proposal, in fact he voted for the thing. So we start comparing the candidates based on the number of errors or lies they made. But then, to confuse things even more, we go to another dot-com fact checking site and find that, using a slightly different set of statistics and statement reviews, the error and lie score is the opposite of the first dot-com site. What the hell?
Is there no such thing as an absolute Truth any more? And if presented with an absolute Truth in a political race would anyone recognize it and change their vote accordingly? Probably not. We’ve become so convinced in our predisposed positions that we have a hard time seeing Truth in any context other than that which we are predisposed towards.
In other words, for example, if Vice President Biden says he voted against sending troops to Iraq or Afghanistan in a nationally televised debate, as he did, then his supporters accept that as fact even though the opposite is true and verified by a glance at the Congressional Record. And when his opponent Mr. Ryan states that a particular dollar amount is taken from one program and put into another (an easily verifiable fact supported by the Congressional Budget Office that happens to be true) Mr. Biden and his supporters call the statement a lie. And in all honesty I’ll bet the reverse is true for the other side when Mr. Ryan made some errors or misstated certain claims about Mr. Biden’s record. The point is we are predisposed to believe that which is in line with our own view of the political world.
This morning I looked at three different articles claiming to be fact checking in nature. In two of them Mr. Biden looked slightly worse than Mr. Ryan. In the other the errors and/or lies were about even. But when I put that information to a friend who is a dedicated Biden supporter she refused to accept it. And the reason she’s not accepting those facts is that she has a view of government that is more in line with Biden than it is with Ryan and his side. I posed a hypothetical question to her: “Would you change your vote if it was discovered that Biden was complicit in a cover-up designed to keep information about how the administration had mishandled programs directed against terrorists in northern Africa?” She said no. She indicated that the administration would probably have been acting on the intelligence available at the time. So I, being an antagonistic sort of fellow, said; “Well why were you so strongly against former President Bush when his administration claimed, based on intelligence available at the time, that we needed to go into Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein and his weapons programs.” “Well” she said “that was different.”
So back we go to Truth. I’m nearly convinced that Truth doesn’t matter except in one area. The area that should matter to us is the real gut feeling we get when we hear a politician speak. All humans have a certain capacity for sensing when another human is bullshitting us. We may accept that bullshit for awhile because it’s easier to get along that way. But eventually we realize the Truth and we quietly and privately act on that realization. Politicians who stay in office for a long time become skilled in the arts of deception. But if we pay attention we can see how they are more interested in keeping their office than they are in serving the interests of their constituents. And it seems that the more they smile, the more they fall back on slogans and aphorisms the more deceptive they have become. So I’m pretty sure I’m going with my instincts this year. In local contests, in the state races and in the national election I’m looking for the signs of a bullshitter. And when I see those signs I’ll vote for the other candidate. If both candidates seem to be loaded with B.S. then I’ll write someone else in. At least I’ll be acting in as honest a way as I can.
Have a fine day.
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