The world today brings with it many challenges. One of those is locating truth. To find the truth today, one must navigate a sea of lies until they strike buried treasure. Because that is what the truth has become; buried underneath tonnes of untruths and misinformation. If you really want to track it down, you must be willing to put in the effort. Depending on what you are looking for, the level of difficulty in finding it may vary.

When it comes to politics in particular, it is often hard to reach the truth of a matter. The problem is that the media and Big Tech (eg. Facebook, Twitter, Google) engage in the purposeful spreading of disinformation and censorship of the truth. As mentioned in a previous article (Digital War Declared), social media companies like Facebook and Twitter deliberately censor, or indeed take down, certain information that does not fit their narrative (which usually ties in with their ideology). They may even go so far as to suspend accounts that share such information, which is a violation of their Section 230 privileges. Similarly, YouTube takes down videos and channels that spread this information through their platform. They may also demonetize a channel in an attempt to disenfranchise them by removing a source of income. Google also ensure that truthful information is buried by ensuring the stories at the top of your search are from Big Media outlets (eg. CNN, MSNBC, ABC, New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, or in Australia 9, 7, 10, ABC, The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, News.com.au, etc.). To find accurate information, one must look past these outlets and to truly reliable sources. Sometimes this is information straight from the source. It may be government material, documents pertaining to the matter at hand, or even raw, unedited footage.

Deception has become far too great a problem in our world. The media, politicians, and humans in general use deception to get ahead, to get people on their side, to trick people into believing something that is false. This may come in the form of edited clips, or something someone has said taken out of context. When it comes to these kinds of things, context is key. Oftentimes, those who practise deception take things out of context to push a certain narrative. Many are fooled by this tactic and are led to believe something that is untrue. Thus, it is important that when we see a clip, or are told someone has said something in particular, we go looking for the full, unedited footage, speech, quote, or whatever else it may be.

In recent years there has also been a rise in the misconstruing of the word “truth”. The Left have made the phrase “my truth” popular, particularly in the wake of the MeToo movement. But it is important that we do not let truth be conflated with something else. And that is why we must come to understand what truth is, and, adversely, what it is not.

The definition of “truth” is “the quality or state of being true” or “that which is in accordance with fact or reality”. Truth is, at its core, not subjective; it is objective. There is no such thing as “my truth”. There is only “the truth”. The truth is based in reality. It is exact. There is no obscurity around it. Nothing changes it. It just is.

When it comes to the notion of “my truth”, there is a far more accurate term for this. “My truth” is essentially what someone believes to be true. It is, in essence, an opinion. In this sense, what is true to one person may not be true to another. For example, an individual might say “The Office is the greatest television show of all time” and believe that to be true, while another individual could say “Seinfeld is the greatest television show of all time” and believe that to be true. So, one thinks The Office is better than Seinfeld, and vice versa. Obviously, these two individuals do not believe the same thing to be true, thus “their truth” is really just their opinion. Sure, it is true to them, but it is not the truth. I could believe it to be true that Donald Trump is not the President of the United States, however, that would be factually inaccurate and thus not the truth. Truth is therefore not subjective. It must be based in fact.

Then there are the concepts of absolute truth and relative truth. Absolute truth is true at all times and in all places no matter the circumstances. In our world, absolute truth could be something like the colour of a bluebird. A bluebird is blue all the time and in all places no matter what. It is also something that can be found in religion. For example, Christians believe that God created the world and all that lives in it, and that is the absolute truth. We believe that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Absolute truth is essentially the foundation of Christianity itself. But there are also those who do not believe absolute truth exists at all. To them, I would pose one simple question: Do you believe that absolutely?

On the other hand, relative truth is the doctrine that all truth is relative to some degree, changing depending on a person’s perspective. For example, one may believe that something is ugly, while the other believes it is beautiful. In cases such as these, truth is based in opinion, thus it is not the truth, but rather one person’s “truth”. Essentially, absolute truth is the truth and relative truth is what would now be referred to as “my truth”.

Truth can be complex in nature. It can therefore be difficult to comprehend. It is however something we must endeavour to understand because it is a key part of our existence in this world. In the modern world, it can be a hard task to get to the truth. Lies and misinformation are being spread all around us, be they deliberate or unwitting. It is oftentimes a laborious undertaking to sift through the lies until you finally locate that sparkling truth. Honesty is a highly respected quality amongst those who hold the truth in good stead. Yet with evil in the world, honesty can become obscured. Human beings can be tempted to lie for their own gain. Many elites do it for money and power. As I’ve touched on in prior pieces, human beings are inherently susceptible to corruption. But that does not mean we should all just let ourselves be overcome by that darkness and write ourselves off. After all, human beings also have free will.

We can choose honesty. We can choose truth.

We have the power to choose. It is our responsibility to do so.