How's that for a provocative question? It's not just a headline. Instead, it's one of the most important questions of our time and one that demands an answer. Can we go on with our lives believing what we want to believe instead of questioning its origins, its authenticity or sources OR should we remain 'doubting Thomases'? THAT, my friends, is the binary choice we're all facing whether we wish to acknowledge it or not. Should we blindly accept media-driven (or government) reporting that reinforces our own personal biases and notions, or should we invest our time and personal energy to sleuth out the actual truth?
Each choice has its own risks and rewards. Choosing to tacitly accept our side's spin of national events supports our own opinions and may make us feel better (thinking that we know the truth) but doing so ignores the powerful forces that are working overtime to subvert whatever influence we might have over our own lives. Maybe those of us who've dismissed the 'bad news' stories or those simply too ridiculous to even entertain can sleep better at night, but sooner or later we're bound to awaken to a very different reality that bears little resemblance to the one we've constructed for ourselves. Believing what we want to believe (without supporting facts) is dangerous and only proves that what we don’t know CAN hurt us.
If that is true and we are concerned about the welfare of our own families and friends as well as that of our country, then we have no choice but to seek the truth - about everything. The reason is simple. One untruth or half-truth, strategically placed in the foundation of an argument can negate all the real truths that are laid upon it. In other words, you cannot construct good policy or make sound, defensible decisions based on faulty information. That leaves only one path for reasonable people to take. It is the path that is based on ever-present skepticism and dogged persistence and one which will require us to spend more of our time and resources, create more headaches, add more consternation, increase our frustration and sap more of our strength.
Americans have always been searchers for truth not solely out of some high-minded moral quest, but more for practical reasons…we are constantly looking to create sustainable progress in our society. We know that absent truth, we place ourselves in peril. Faulty assessments always lead to faulty outcomes and wasted opportunities. And, unfortunately, sometimes those outcomes can take a generation or more to reverse. Such is the case in today's USA. Despite the explosion of sources of information, we must choose from, there is an even greater explosion of people who would use those sources to lie to us! Vigilance is paramount if we are to find the elusive truths, we need to choose sides, wisely.
To believe or not to believe. That is the question.
In the book of John, Jesus told the Jews that followed Him: "The truth will set you free." A couple millennia later, the Feminist activist Gloria Steinem said, "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." Jesus' statement lays the predicate for the search for the truth (that once knowing it, truth will set you free from doubt), but Steinem accurately described the fallout from knowing the truth - that sometimes it is irritating and demoralizing and very often angers us (because we have either ignored it or it caught us by surprise). To forestall that anger or shock I've found it better to live life with an open and inquiring mind, particularly when it comes to anything emanating from the maw of the media…or my government. They say that the only cure for love is to love more. The same can be said of healthy skepticism; there is no replacement for it except more of the same, especially these days…but don't take my word for it.
Stephan Helgesen is a retired career U.S. diplomat who lived and worked in 30 countries over 25 years. He is the author of twelve books, six of which are on American politics and has written over 1,200 articles on politics, economics, and social trends. He operates a political news story aggregator website, www.projectpushback.com. He can be reached at: stephan@stephanhelgesen.com
