Who’s truth is it anyway?

Fact, history, eye witness accounts, AI and science, none of these are considered measures of truth anymore.  Even the word truth is hotly debated. Truth can be ‘my’ truth, ‘your’ truth, ‘the established’ truth, ‘historical truth’. When did the truth, stop being just that, The Truth.

Individual reputations and company reputations, based on honesty and truth, used to be valued and once lost were never recovered, now that’s not how it works. Money buys public opinion, the loudest voices and the famed and fabulous, influence what we buy, what we say and what we like. But we in turn, can turn into a baying mob and turn on our idols, tearing them down at whim, if they step off path, we expect them to tread.      

We are living in a changed world surrounded by fake news. Communicators and influencers at all levels are lobbying for interests unknown to us. We don’t know what the truth is, and to paraphrase Aaron Sorkin’s line in ‘A Few Good Men’, can we handle the truth?

Everyone has an angle.  How can we possibly know what to believe? And ultimately does the truth matter?

There is a difference between truth, belief, opinion and knowledge. Truth can fit into any of these categories. 

Truth in belief; I believe the full moon affects how I feel.  I can’t prove it, I can’t see it, I can only feel it and believe it to be true. Therefore, based on my unprovable belief, my truth is that the full moon affects how I feel. 

Truth in opinion; I think people who believe the full moon affects them are completely stupid, do they believe in werewolves too? Therefore, based on my opinion (that may or may not be informed by any research), my truth is that the full moon does not affect how anyone feels.

Truth in knowledge; Research has shown that the full moon has a significant influence on tides, time and light. The Moon is an essential element in bird navigation and migration. Some species reproduce according to the lunar calendar and the survival of sea living creatures is crucially dependent on adapting their behaviour to the tides which are directly influenced by the phases of the moon.  Therefore, my truth, proven beyond doubt by my knowledge, is that the full moon affects how we all feel.

The truth is (!) that anyone of these is actually true.  But how true is true? Well, that’s a matter of how much we trust the person stating it. If we like them, we’ll suspend any disbelief we might feel and join their version of the truth. And so, a cult or fan base is born.

As humans we are a hot mess of mingled belief, knowledge and opinion.  We’re driven by joy, fear, hope, loneliness, boredom, desire, tradition and wanting to be liked and accepted. This can obscure our reason, subdue our knowledge and change our beliefs.  

So, the actual truth?  There is no such thing, it’s a myth…but that’s just what I think…