We have the prophets speaking ‘Alternative facts’ KellyAnne Conway,’ Truth is not truth’ Rudy Guliani and ‘Do not believe what you read or see’ Trump. And boy do they never stop talking. They hit every talk show in the history of humanity, tweet into the early morning, and preen before every appreciative crowd they can find. They have a lot of explaining to do. And the truth is not very convenient to the way they want you to see the world. So the onslaught comes and continues to come until the end of time. While I can not necessarily go the full monty with Guliani, Trump, or Conway (pleasing image huh) I can give some ground to the fact that many people’s truth is relative. In fact this can even be Gandhian. Gandhi taught that none of us hold the total truth. It is only in exchange with our opponent’s that we can find the greater truth that transcends any one of us. Now having said that if you truly believe that truth cannot be fully known, if this is a philosophy of belief and not just convenient when you feel most people are not going to believe you then there is an ethical responsibility you have. If truth is not truth than you must err on the side of laxity of your beliefs. You cannot be dogmatic and demand draconian policies that may persecute someone whose truth and love or otherwise you can be guilty of punishing or harming an innocent person. Only those who are convinced they are right and they alone know truth can be dogmatic and measure out harsh punishments. For example if you can never be sure someone has committed murder then how can you be a strong advocate for the death penalty. You can never have evidence beyond a doubt. If you cannot be sure when life starts how can you demand a woman carry to term especially in cases when their lives are in jeopardy. The fact that they want to build walls, reverse Roe vs. Wade, keep out immigrants, roll back gay rights is not the action of someone who believes that truth is not truth or the world is filled with alternative facts. So one must ask what are they doing. I think there are two things they are trying to accomplish. First they are attempting to be able to challenge the truth of the allegations when Mueller finally delivers his work. They have in fact at various times admitted such. But secondly I think they are being even more devious. They are sowing so much confusion as to what is truth that you give up your search for truth. When truth is no longer being searched for it leaves those in power with complete freedom to do whatever they choose. This too they have admitted to. Trump has declared that he could shoot someone in the middle of the street and no one would care. And of course this is the way they wish to roll. And they may even be given that right if we stop searching for and believing in truth. This is the most litigious president and person our country has ever known. Over the last three decades the United States president Donald Trump and his businesses have been involved in 3,500 legal cases in U.S. federal courts and state courts, an unprecedented number for a U.S. presidential candidate. Trump spends a lot of legal time trying to bend the truth to the way he sees things. This is also why he tweets. Tweets by the way that are treated as much of a source as the AP. He writes tweets and his tweets are transmitted even more than an article the AP submits to newspapers for possible printing. I would not be surprised if the AP is having trouble meeting budget. This is why we have Guliani as the television lawyer for Trump. What is a television lawyer? Someone with charisma enough to make spin attractive. It is an attempt to not to win a case but determine how the politics of the nation go. That is why Trump attacks the press. To make them seem less trustworthy. That is why he immediately attacks someone who challenges his truth with a viciousness. He cannot win and seldom does in court. They apparently have to do this because they know in a case of objective truth or in a court of law they will lose. But in the court of public opinion there are no objections or judges to even the scales. We have freedom of speech not freedom of truth. Therefore they throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks. So hold on to your truth because there is a gust of hot air blowing your way every day and it won’t let up until its settled in court or at the polls.
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