Truth is the real deal. It is the reality, the facts as they occurred in real time, with no embellishment, opinion or interpretation. Yet is that not done all the time, why ''his-story' is just that -a story told by the victor, by the element uppermost in society? Is that not why textbooks vary in presenting the "truth" and the "facts", depending upon the country, the state and the times? Thus how do we know that what we are getting is the truth, the one that is supposedly sworn to in court, and then so obviously and often abrogated.
The past five years of national life have been a challenge to the truth. Political machines often send out their own versions of the truth, as they see it, or want it, and a person must choose. But what if what is put out there is never the truth, or perhaps a tiny grain around which is built a whole loaf of falsehood? The truth is, that this is often a difficulty that is not truly overcome and from that comes the erroneous and infamous decisions in the history of the world.
This tendency to lie, or at the very least to obfuscate the truth, has not trickled, but poured down the tiers of society, with truth being run ragged. Indeed, it is one of the endangered species on this planet! It behooves us to develop methods of protection for truth, the idea and value of it.
So Georgia legislators of the GOP ilk lie about their anti voting rights bill as being one that insures voting rights and truth. UCO here, in the person of David Israel and cohorts deny the interest of the residents here for the sake of seven people who did not show up. Lack of announcement, over a year of cancelations, and yet 107 showed up, hungry for information and they were rudely shut down and chastised on Israel's blog as being uninterested. I rather think the truth is that David Israel was not interested in relating the truths of the past year and why? Lest he be censored? Lest we hear how he has neglected our needs, our contract needs, the Millennium Agreement or its replacement, and on and on. Truth? Not here.
How about the truth in society that prejudice is endemic and epidemic in it. One group hates the other, prejudice is a common factor to all, and the song which iterates how groups of people hate each other in a long, self defeating and depressing train of hate tells it all. This hatred is with us since the dawn of mankind. It leads to war, to poverty, to loss of benefits and progress, to inequality, to disaster for poor families, to oppression. To murder and genocide - nothing good. Yet the truth is, that no one group is free from prejudice No one group has all the right on its side, being totally free of any guilt or complicity in this matter. Anti Asian. Anti Black. Anti Brown. Anti White. Anti Jewish. Anti Catholic. Anti Shia. Anti Rohingya. Anti Armenians. Anti Kurds. Anti Democrats. Should I keep going?
And in all these anti categories is the kernel - that truth is rejected and blame assigned to all else rather than to where it belongs. We do not want to claim ownership of it even as we lie through our teeth. Even as we go to extremes. For example, take the anti police feeling today. True, they have often proceeded unchecked, shot or harassed innocent people, but there are times that police must exercise force. That is a part of their job in serving and protecting. What we need is a change in society that endeavors to eliminate the causes of the violence, the necessity and appropriateness of proper force, the explosion of gun ownership by so many, too many, who should not have possession of weapons. Much to do and so little time or effort given to it.
Who does the choosing of the truth of society? We do. It is what we allow, what we want, what we call for. "Around here it is not a matter of finding the truth but of deciding which lie you live with better."
(Flannery O' Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters)
Not good, folks, not good.
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