Truthish

‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty — that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

That’s what Keats said in his poem Ode on a Grecian Urn but these days it’s not so simple to know anything about truth. Under the bombardment of social media and polarized politics the notion of truth escapes us. Back in Keats’ day, people were not aware of “truthiness” and “fake news.”

“Tell the truth and shame the devil,” my mother used to say, but the word “shame” actually meant something to us in those days. These days the word is rarely heard. It seems many people are unashamed by behaviours that once were considered shameful. Indeed, our moral and societal standards seem to have changed to the point that lies, no matter how delusional or destructive, can either be ignored or can find thousands of supporters.

This shift is intensified by social media which encourages people to consider truth as irrelevant or unimportant. Consider the two words together — Truth Social — the social media platform owned by Donald Trump.

And, these days, there’s the rub. We may be able to recognize some of Donald Trump’s lies, but everywhere on social media there are news items and videos within which it’s not easy to figure out what is true. Messages that are wildly mistaken and even batshit crazy can acquire large supporters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms.

For example, Romana Didulo, the self-appointed Queen of Canada, who has a large following on social media, has issued several “royal decrees” on her Telegram page, some claiming that electricity is now free in Canada, some abolishing income tax, or claiming that water bills are illegal.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/the-rise-of-romana-didulo-self-described-queen-of-canada-and-what-she-s-up-to-now-1.6799946

In the old days, before the widespread use of social media, Didulo would just have been seen as “that wacky old woman down the street.”

Misinformation and boastful dissimulation have long been part of human politics but these days “truthiness,” a termed coined by Steven Colbert, seems to be accepted as the norm and there is no shame attached to outright lies.  

Philosophers and poets have written about truth for hundreds of years. About four centuries ago, Galileo wrote that the search for truth was important because it “stimulates the investigation, establishment and growth of the arts.” He is also quoted as saying, “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”

These days the point is that it is not easy to discover truths or to reveal lies. Pierre Poilievre, the Leader of the Official Opposition of Canada has been hosting “Axe the Tax” rallies against carbon pricing and has made claims that the carbon tax won’t reduce emissions, will be a major cause of inflation, will hurt Canadian business and that the price-and-rebate approach doesn’t make sense. Such claims have been thoughtfully countered by more than 200 Canadian economists from universities across the country in an open letter which proposed that healthy public debate “should be based on sound evidence and facts:” https://ecofiscal.ca/2024/03/26/open-letter-carbon-pricing/

And yet, Mr. Poilievre continues to spread misinformation about the issue, arguing that it is more important to “listen to the common sense of the common people, not Justin Trudeau’s so-called ‘experts.’” The preferencing of the common sense of the common people over expert knowledge is worrisome. We don’t ask the common people to build our airplanes, deal with our plumbing problems or fix our computers, so why wouldn’t we ask economists to explain tax implications?

When I googled Canada’s carbon tax, I received one hundred and twenty-three million results in .35 seconds, with responses ranging from government statements to petitions and reports from right-wing institutes, climate activists, and so forth. On Twitter, it takes only seconds to see extremist, racist, highly polarized and hateful comments.

The good news is that many young people are acquiring knowledge and skills that allow them to sift through misinformation.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/education-digital-media-literacy-1.7166756

“The truth will out,” was another of my mother’s sayings, and I was pleased to read about the Poyntner Institute, a nonprofit media institute and newsroom that provides fact-checking, media literacy and journalism ethics training to citizens and journalists. Poynter has partnered with MediaWise, a Canadian non-profit to launch the Teen Fact-Checking Network which will teach teens skills that will help them to debunk misinformation and disinformation.

https://mediasmarts.ca/get-involved/teen-fact-checking-network

It seems that teachers in many schools are now working with programs such as this. Of course it’s a big challenge to sort out the truth on social media, but it’s encouraging to see that some young people are taking it on.

Maybe my mother was right. The “truth will out,” if we really search for it. It’s hopeful that younger generations may be prepared to do that.