The Truth, but not the Whole Truth, and pretty much not Nothing But the Truth

“Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” - John Adams

John Adams said that while very unpopularly defending the British Soldiers accused of the killings known as the Boston Massacre. Adams’ words are still true, but they don’t seem to mean very much these days. It seems like we'd usually rather take a subset of the facts, spin the crap out of them and repeat them very loudly, and enough people will believe our story to confuse the issue.

So what’s really true these days is that we’re becoming more and more accustomed to telling and believing a subset of the truth. This is true in Israel and Palestine. It’s true in Iran and Iraq. It’s true in Russia and the Ukraine. It’s true if you’re an Argentinian or a Columbian futbol fan. It’s true in Congress and in the White House. It’s true when Democrats say, “Republicans want to deprive women of access to contraception!” It’s true when the Republicans say, “No, we don’t.” It’s true when gun advocates say that gun control advocates want to take away all of their guns. It’s true when gun control advocates say that guns kill and are bad and wrong and need to be curtailed. We take a portion of the truth, and we believe it, and we pick a side as a result. Once we’ve picked a side, woe to you who might consider trying to change our minds!

We don’t seem to care about truth as a society. Perhaps we never did. We care about winning, and we don’t really care what winning means, other than what it means for us and, sometimes, for those close to us. We don’t care about solutions that might work for everyone. We don’t care about accepting the truth that most solutions don’t work for everyone and communicating with those for whom a solution doesn’t work, so they can make other plans. We care about getting ours, or keeping it. We care about our own good above the public’s.

Maybe we can try to be completely truthful with each other for a time. Maybe we can try to see and understand the other person’s point of view. Maybe we can help them understand ours. Maybe doing all three of those things around one issue will help us figure out a third alternative that works for all of us or a great majority of us. I’d sure like to try.