Editorial
I have had a series of encounters with people over the past few weeks that when combined with later moments of reflection have reinforced a curiosity for questions that could have no discernible answers. The biggest one being: Just what the heck is wrong with us?
It’s a terrible question, right? Partly because of the vagueness in the question’s scope? It’s like saying, “That guy was tall.”
This is a truthful statement if the guy was six foot and the person who described him was five-foot-two. I’m around six-three. A six-foot guy isn’t tall. If he was six-eight, I would say he was tall. Shawn Bradley of the Philadelphia 76rs would disagree.
Does the truth need agreement or some kind of consensus to be true?
Documentary filmmaker, journalist, and commentator Matt Walsh has certainly stirred things up out there in the world with his films and social and political discourse. He managed to silence a majority of those he interviewed in a documentary about gender identity by asking the question: What is a woman?
Repeatedly throughout the documentary, people would ask Walsh why he was asking such questions. His response was that he was in search of the truth.
I have to admit, whenever I hear some university professor with a string of degrees that’s never worked in the private sector or ventured too far from life on campus ask, “Who’s truth,” I would like to give a quick jab between the chin and nose to see how well they philosophize their way out of a busted lip. I'm not really sure, however, the question is without merit.
Perhaps my question to Walsh, university professors, and you is: What is truth?
Is the truth nothing more than the individual interpretation of a series of facts that when compared with the perspectives of the majority is determined to be true, and therefore, brings the truth into existence?
If that were the case, the earth at one time, truly was flat. For that matter, to an alarmingly large number of individuals out there, the earth is flat and scientists, the education system, and the government have been lying to use for generations.
Seriously, there is a “flat-earther” movement out there full of seemingly regular people with jobs, families, and degrees that believe the earth is, in fact, flat. Physics be damned.
How is this possible? While this is an admittedly extreme result, I believe it is rooted in the same problem that seems to infect most, if not all to varying degrees, inhabitants of this world— flat or not. And it also seems to be spreading.
We once used sayings like, “The truth hurts” or “The truth will set you free” or “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Today, the “truth” is on a sliding scale, or worse, it is something we no longer seek, merely seek to reinforce.
It seems that each day we are becoming more and more of an affirmational society, either denying or outright avoiding any facts that detract from the preconceived narrative we tell ourselves. If any facts might cause us to rethink our perspective, especially if it requires an admission of guilt — if only to ourselves — then we don’t want to hear them.
It’s one of the reasons more people turn to Facebook than to newspapers. While the media as a whole has made its bed of when it comes to the loss of public trust, the reason the industry has changed is that people have increasingly turned away from facts — especially uncomfortable ones — and newspapers are full of facts.
We avoid hearing or reading about the facts because facts tend to point toward a truth, which in turn often forces an uncomfortable admission about ourselves or a situation. And it’s not something that only affects us at the state, national, or global level, it is an illness that starts right here at home.
Let me give a few quick, but tough, local facts to consider.
Per its most recent financial audit, the City of Rotan has amassed roughly two years of operating expenses in surplus revenues. It also has a decaying water storage and delivery system and potholeriddled streets with some holes eight inches deep or more.
Stonewall County Commissioners Court has not increased law enforcement wages incrementally or granted any significant raises in the last decade.
The county no longer has enough budgeted funds available to support more than a sheriff and a single deputy.
A majority of residents in Fisher and Stonewall counties have serious issues, complaints, or concerns about one or more of their local governmental or taxing entities. A majority of elections are either canceled due to a lack of candidate filings or have seats contested by fewer than two opponents.
Of course, these are just straightforward facts.
The truth — if it’s out there — I suppose is open to interpretation.