The war between truth and falsehood
‘Let truth and falsehood do battle in the arena of ideas. Truth will vanquish. Let the student and the citizen witness the struggle; let the struggle take place in their minds, and they will ally themselves with truth.” Such was the hope of President George Washington.
These are unquestionably contentions upon which the case for democracy in part rests. The most casual student of history knows that, as a matter of fact, truth does not necessarily vanquish. What is more, truth can never win unless it is formally, openly and publicly made known.
Truth does not carry within itself antitoxin to falsehood. The cause of truth must be championed, and it must be championed by energetic action. Truth can win only where people are temperamentally and intellectually disposed to side with it. The mere act of recognizing it as such does not include the willful act of attaching allegiance to it.
It is a tragic fact that in Russia, Italy, Germany and Japan, truth did not triumph, and that this was not because the truth had not been made known. It was rather because (a) not enough people recognized the truth, (b) those who did recognize it did not exert themselves sufficiently in its behalf, and (c) many people saw the truth, but were indifferent to it.
These are historical instances of the way in which contempt for truth can lose the battle, if not the war, to the idolatry of falsehood. It would seem that the will of man had never been confronted more dramatically between a choice of black and white. But 77 years after World War II, America finds itself with its own black and white choice.
At its 246th birthday, America finds itself on the auction block of world history in bidding between the idolatry of falsehood and truth. Americans in the tens of millions embrace the gospel “if you can’t trust President Trump, who can you trust?”
That gospel, inhabited by brazen falsehoods built on the coattails of phantoms, continues to be publicly worshipped by Kevin McCarthy, Kern County’s native son. Polls indicate that thousands of Kern County residents who pride themselves on their invulnerability to be deceived, likewise embrace it.
At times in the course of human history, it becomes necessary for aroused citizens to step up and verbally scorch those who willfully ignore the truths before their blind eyes and deaf ears. This is one of those times.
What comes to mind are the ancient admonitions “do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.” And likewise, “after once knowing what is right through the knowledge of truth they turn back as the dog turns back to the expulsions of his stomach’s contents.”
As an American citizen with the immense privilege of freedom of expression, I feel duty-bound to continue my defiance of elected officials and worshippers of a political idol who is bent on smashing the heart and soul of America.
I will not abdicate responsibility by lapsing into complacency in giving impetus to values that are considered to be good. Values that are considered closest to truth, or perhaps, even to be truth itself.