The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth....?
Have you seen the claims alleging Snopes.com is biased and extremely liberal and slanting information. Perhaps you have seen the claims that Snopes.com is a mom and pops operation by a couple in San Fernando Valley, CA? FactCheck.org basically debunks these claims and indicated Snopes is basically legitimate, although they also agree you should never completely believe anything you read on the internet including, as they say, even what is written on FackCheck.org without checking the research yourself.
All of this has gotten me to thinking: Finding the “truth” is an interesting subject. Here is my take.
To begin with, I am reminded of one of the early lines in the movie Braveheart with Mel Gibson: “History is written by liars.” Being a psychologist I have often thought about what is truth. I believe history is written by liars, whether the person knows it is a lie or not. If there is absolute true in any piece of history, it is only there by pure accident. Generally, a statement put forth to be “historical fact” is, in reality. a mixture of truth and fiction.
And, by the way, EVERY piece of information you have learned is “history!” The information may have only occurred a minute ago or even a brief second ago. But when you find out about it, the information or situation is over. It is history! It is past! Everything you know or learn is history. When I was in elementary school we always had a section of class called “Current Events” and the teacher talked about the news for the day. But in truth, the events were not current. They were history. The class should have been called “Historical Events” or (to make people happy) “Recent Historical Events.” OK, armed with this information (whether you believe it or not), let us move on.
How can I say all people who write/provide history are liars, you ask? The answer is simple, cowboy. Stick with me.
I believe there are basically three types of reporters of “truth,” AKA “history writers.”
First, is the person who is obviously fabricating or telling bald face lie in order to achieve some personal goal. Lying is intentional and calculated. Sounds like many politicians we all know.
Second, is the person who tries to tell the “facts” of an event or situation, but has a personal, political, religious, philosophical, etc bias which slants the telling into a partially correct statement. Likely this person truly believes his or her version of the facts is correct. There is no intentional fabrication. Sounds like many media outlets we know.
Third, is the person who honestly attempts to convey the “facts” of an event or situation in the best, most honest manner possible. The problem here is that the person almost always does not know the entire situation or event. The person knows only a portion and it is upon that portion the person bases his or her statement of the “facts.” Another problem here is that of individual perception. Each of us, based upon our own life experience and beliefs tend to interpret information differently. Eyewitness testimony in court is a good example. You can have an auto crash observed by five different people and the testimony each person gives in court will be somewhat (and maybe largely) different. Are the witnesses “lying” according to how the court views it? No, each witness is doing his or her best. But the historical event “auto crash” is told in differing stories and the court is supposed to figure out the truth. If each witness was telling the exact truth, there would be nothing to figure out. So, in a sense, each witness has told a lie…if only a partial, unintentional lie.
Speaking of court testimony, in my work I am often called upon to testify in court. As we all know, before I (or anyone) gets up to testify I have to raise my right hand and I am asked: “Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” (Or some similar version depending upon the jurisdiction.) And I (or the potential witness) have to answer in the affirmative. Promising to tell the “whole truth” is a lie in itself. Almost no one knows the whole truth. The person knows their perception of what was seen and the person believes it to be the whole truth. In reality, it is only what the person saw or heard or read or deduced or examined or however else the person arrived at some information.
The truth is: We do not know whole truth! We know some stuff related to the subject and maybe we know a lot of stuff related to the subject (like a world class expert), but we do not know all the truth…..and, sadly, likely we never will know “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Even world class experts who do research on a given subject change their opinion or statement of “the truth” from time to time.
Now if you want to be argumentative we could discuss religion, philosophy, research experts, a person’s own life experience, and so on. While those are all useful, when it is all said and done you still do not know the “whole truth.” What you know is that piece of the truth that is important to you, that fits your perception, that helps you feel comfortable and safe with yourself and with what surrounds you.
In my opinion, the only way to know “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” is to get information from someone who actually does know everything. Have you conversed with God lately or spoke with some wise extraterrestrial passing through your town?
