Truth in a post-factual world

We live in a world in what’s true is a question of opinion, not a matter of fact. Imagine his guy, his father, and girlfriend sitting around a campfire drinking a few brews near Brockville, Ontario. She says the Earth is flat. The father insists that it’s round. Tempers rise and the father starts throwing things into the fire, including a propane bottle. Firefighters arrive on the scene and police charge the father with mischief.

Wasn’t the fact of a round Earth determined long ago? Mark Kingwell, professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, wonders how anyone can dispute centuries of scientific knowledge based on Pythagoras and Galileo.

“It can seem as if we are living in a world where fact, truth, and evidence no longer exert the rational pull they once did. Our landscape of fake news sites, junk science, politicians blithely dismissive of fact-check, and Google searches that appear to make us dumber, renders truth redundant. We are rudderless on a dark sea where, as Nietzsche said, there are no facts, only interpretations (Globe and Mail, June 19, 2016)”

Truth has evolved over time. Philosophers used to believe in an absolute truth.  Now they offer a more pragmatic version: those that are empirical and falsifiable. If you want to know if the Earth is flat, travel in one direction and see if you fall off the edge.

The Bush era ushered in a new kind of truth, one based on hunches such as “Iraq processes weapons of mass destruction.”

Bush aide Karl Rove explained the new truth to writer Ron Suskind. Rove told the writer he was part of a deluded group, a “reality-based community, who believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” Rove explained. “We create our own reality,”  “We’re history’s actors… and you, all of you, will be left to study what we do.”

Truth continues to evolve with Donald Trump. He makes President Bush look good.

“The cynical, political aides of George W. Bush argued that they created reality out of power. That position was doctoral-quality compared to the haphazard, say-anything approach of the new Republican regime.”

Bush’s reality was, at least, sensitive to rebuttal. The world according to Trump sees rebuttal as an opportunity to double-down. Correction used to cause shame and confusion. No more.

When Trump arrived in Scotland, it didn’t bother him at all that Scotland hadn’t voted to leave the European Union. Instead, Trump tweeted “Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!”

Shame and confusion are not part of Trump’s repertoire. When a reporter with a deformed hand questioned Trump, he mocked the reporter’s deformity rather than answering the question. “Now, the poor guy,” he said, “you’ve got to see this guy.” Trump curled his arms to mock the reporter.

Conspiracy theories are regarded as sophisticated in the post-factual world. Trump claims to have seen news reports from 9/11 that show “thousands and thousands” of Jersey City residents of Middle-Eastern descent cheering when the Twin Towers fell. Those reports do not exist.

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Becoming friendly with U.S. President an oily question

I notice, President George W. Bush, that you have canceled  your visit to Canada next month. That’s OK, we know how  busy you are.  We got preview of what your message might be  from your ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci.

“There would be no debate. There would be no hesitation. We would be there for Canada as part of our family. And that is why so many in the United States are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now,” said Cellucci  on March 25, 2003.

I notice that your ambassador delivered your passionate appeal directly to Canadians,  via Economic Club of Toronto.  Diplomats usually give their dry, carefully worded, messages to host governments.

But what, Mr. President, do we owe this earnest attention?  In the past, you have scarcely noticed that we exist.

Excuse me if I seem petty, but it seems like you like Mexico best.  Mexico was the first country that you visited as president.  Mexico’s President Vincente Fox was the first leader invited to the U.S.  On Fox’s visit, you gushed “This is a recognition that the United States has no more important relationship in the world than the one we have with Mexico.”

Did you forget, Mr. President, that our two countries share the world’s greatest trade ($1.4 billion a day) and the longest undefended boarder in the world (although I understand you have a problem with that.)

What do you want from Canada?   You know that all of our military resources are fighting the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and in the Persian Gulf.  It’s a commitment greater than most in your coalition.

If you are seeking our approval, I’m truly touched since your always seem to do things your own way.

I notice that you didn’t visit Iraq either.  Your message to Iraqis came in the form of 17 million leaflets dropped in advance of your invasion, and from a pop radio station aboard a converted C-130 cargo plane that flew over Iraq.

One of your leaflets read “The oil industry is your livelihood.  Your family depends on your livelihood.  If the oil industry is destroyed, your livelihood will be ruined.”

The American pop music from the flying radio station over Iraq was a nice touch.  We get a lot of that music here, too.  When the radio announcer flying over Iraq said that Saddam Hussein was corrupt and you wanted him out, you obviously meant what you said.

Three days after ambassador Cellucci’s impassioned speech in Toronto, he was the heart of B.C.’s oil patch in Fort St. John.  His message was that Canada is the biggest source of energy for the U.S. and without Canadian energy, the American way of life would die.

Wow, the survival of the American way of life is at stake.  But I’m beginning to get the feeling that you like us, not just because we are family, but for our oil.  The ambassador also says that you have a problem with our government.

He told the Economic Club of Toronto that you were “disappointed” with recent comments from members of the government of Canada.  Disappointed?  As you would be with a wayward brother, Mr. President?

I notice that you have also been disappointed with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez Frias ever since he was elected in 1999.  Is that why you tried to get him out office and privatize Venezuela’s publicly owned refineries?   I can understand why you are concerned – – it’s the second largest output of oil in the world, and the fifth largest in terms of exports.

And Venezuela’s membership in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is certainly irritating.  Don’t you hate the way OPEC controls world oil prices by limiting oil production?

I thought President Chavez’s reaction to your concern was uncalled for when he said that “Venezuela is a sovereign nation … we are nobody’s colony.”

Come to think of it, that’s almost exactly what our Canadian prime minister said in response to the remarks from your ambassador.  Or was he responding to your senior adviser Richard Perle who called Prime Minister Chrétien a “lame duck”?

Anyway, I’m sure that you’ll make it clear to us.  You can just put your message on American TV channels.  We all watch them.