Freedom of expression should be a great facilitator of truth-telling. Unfortunately, the one doesn’t necessarily follow the other. Free expression also facilitates the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation, opinion, belief, speculation and propaganda.
Gleaning truth from all of that is now more difficult than ever as faith in professional journalism erodes under persistent e-narratives of institutional distrust and conspiracy-based conjecture. More and more, all discourse is becoming suspect of falsehood and sinister intentions.
“The truth will set you free” is now less about revelation than a circling of wagons on a horizon of endless fear within “Us vs Them” encampments. The primary wake-up call is that “They” are censoring the truth so as to control or harm “Us.” Trust no truth except ours.
Social media’s expressive immediacy and communicative urgency has fostered a collateral disregard for truth-based coexistence and informational accountability. Innumerable blogs and podcasts compete continually for niche followers. From climate change to vaccinations and election results, consensus is threatened by the constant proselytizing of denial and delusional projection. The real world isn’t what it seems but rather an impostor, and far less preferable than its virtual replacement’s conveniently like-minded enlightenment. If only everyone could see through the fallacy of our prevailing top-down so-called truth everything could be so much better.
A more complex truth is that most people do realize that we all live in a profoundly unjust and chaotic society held together by an increasingly incomprehensible dynamic and are desperately seeking any explanation that will make that reality more bearable. The irony is that most of us would realize that we have far more commonality than differences if we stopped letting algorithmic commanded communication manipulate our experience of each other.
Some conspiracies are indeed real. All too real, and particularly hard to recognize when otherwise willing but dismissive participants refuse to look in the mirror. Censorship is similarly all to prevalent, especially when self-limiting one’s exposure to more diverse and verifiable sources of information.
“Censorship” is now basically redefined as anything that impedes any discourse, even if that discourse is misinformation or disinformation, or simply not consumer valued media content. Conspiracy theorists just love to shout fire from behind the protective accusation of censorship, most notably when they are confronted with a near empty theater because their unsubstantiated theory has been roundly dismissed. In an ever enlarging “alternative” journalism universe, censorship has essentially become synonymous with fact-checking.
Despite all the recently devoted press and broadcast reportage of JFK Jr.’s presidential bid, he still cries “censorship,” when, like Donald J. Trump, hardly anyone would be paying any attention to him without such actual ubiquitous media coverage. JFK Jr. and Trump, rather than being censored by a media conspiracy, are privileged to, and totally manipulative of, a constitutionally protected freedom of expression fully exploited for maximum marketability.
Yet, the narrative of a conspiratorial media censorship has become the principal meal ticket for a growing cottage industry of self-proclaimed punditry and speculative journalism. Trump’s “fake news” fakery has succeeded well beyond any really informed person’s wildest nightmare.
One person’s QAnon is another person’s Russophobia. Science and religion are now equated as just different belief systems largely believed mutually exclusive. Soon, AI will make reality and virtual reality virtually equal. “Deep fake” is already part of our everyday lexicon and making us question even what we encounter with our own eyes and ears. “Truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” is rapidly disappearing as a foundational value. No wonder justice is so hard to come by and pessimism is so prevalent.
A “post-truth” based reality shouldn’t be so readily acquiesced. Truth is essential to actuality, which is essential to any meaningful existence.
Elevator pitch: A truth-based relationship with reality might not set you free but it will enable you to better comprehend your actual circumstances and possibilities for a less embittered existence. A conspiracy theorized relationship to the world will certainly not set you free, except from the inconvenient truth of a much more complicated and full existence.
Truth is out there. It really doesn’t need our verification. What we need to set free is hope and trust.
Gary Anderson is a Bath resident.
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