Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies, Hype, and Spin
... truth is dead. At best, truth is relative--it's all a matter of interpretation and it all depends on the perspective. At worst, truth is "socially constructed"--merely a matter of human convention and a testament to the community that believes it and the power that established it.
A simple way to illustrate truth and lies is the story of the three baseball umpires debating their different philosophies of umpiring.
"There's balls and there's strikes," says the first, "and I call them the way they are."
"No!" exclaims the second umpire. "That's arrogant. There's balls and strikes and I call them the way I see it."
"That's no better," says the third. "Why beat around the bush? Why not be realistic about what we do? There's balls and there's strikes and they ain't nothing till I call them."
The first umpire represents the traditional view of truth--objective, independent of the mind of the knower, and there to be discovered. The second umpire speaks for moderate relativism--truth "as each person sees it" according to his or her perspective and interpretation. And the third umpire bluntly expresses the radically relativist, or postmodern, position--"truth" is not there to be discovered; it is for each of us to create for ourselves.
... the question is no longer "Is it true?" but rather "Whose truth is it?" and which power stands to gain?"
"We do not talk to say something but to obtain a certain effect."
- Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's progaganda minister Source ... Pg 11-12
Relativism | Modernism | Postmodernism
Books - Searching for the Truth |
See also ... Myth of a Free Press | Is the Public Stupid?
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