People seem fascinated by facts! Journalists ask for facts. Politicians ask their opponents to present them with facts. However, there are no facts; there is only the perception of facts! Nobody can provide facts per se, just their interpretation of facts. This stipulation is why any observation, aside from the sensational correctness, requires the moral inclination for honesty and truthfulness.
Both the most real and the most fabricated fact have to be perceived by and must pass through a human being's consciousness, which entails two inevitable consequences. One relates to the observed fact's material correctness; the second pertains to judging the context within which it appears. Thus, the representation of any reality inevitably involves two chances for arriving at a wrongful explanation of a perceived detail – misconception and misjudgment. Either an actual image/fact or a manipulated or fabricated image/fact is not – intentionally or inadvertently – recognized as such, or an original and authentic image/fact is – deliberately or unintended – misjudged in the context within which it happened.
As an example, let's look at the recent alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel stronghold in Douma/Syria on April 7. The footage of children suffering from exposure to chemical substances was played over and over by Western media. The evidence presented was taken for granted, and nobody seemed to question the motives. The power centers in media and politics suppressed any judgment that would examine the strategic context and whose side the attack benefited. However, while there existed no meaningful incentive on Bashar al Assad's side to carry out the attack, the Douma rebels had all reasons to launch the attack and blame the government. They were facing imminent defeat in early April and wanted to turn the tides of war at the last minute.
Their criminal rationale worked out. A week after the incident, which turned out to be a false-flag operation, the US and its British and French allies released more than one hundred cruise missiles on Syrian government installations. Political expediency, but not love for truth, dictated both the perception and interpretation of a so-called fact in international politics. Meanwhile, the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) verified that neither the government nor the rebels had used chemical weapons. There had been no victims either. The insurgents staged the whole attack to demonize the Syrian Assad regime further, have a pretense for an air attack, prolong the regime-change efforts, and push the US further toward military confrontation with Russia and Iran. The media has fallen silent and remains complicit with their governments covering this distortion and pretense for war.
With constant and almost ubiquitous media presence, not to speak of a camera in the hands of virtually every individual with a smartphone, one might assume that facts of life are more or less unmistakably verified in real-time. However, quite frequently, the opposite is the case. The blessings of modern communication technology and the sheer omnipresence of the media are misused. Ours praised open democratic societies will turn into a parody of themselves if the disregard for the truthfulness, the blatant corruption of politics and media, and presenting false realities molded according to preconceived notions of ideological expedience continues. Most news outlets, but even more frightening, intelligence services, and law enforcement authorities, as well as governmental investigative boards, have lost their credibility. They are in urgent need of winning back the trust of the people they serve.
As I have mentioned in an earlier blog-essay https://www.edwinseditorial.com/2016/06/truth-in-life-and-politics.html, citizens must use sound intuition and good judgment, in combination with inclusive and critical reflection, when dealing with so-called facts presented by political and societal forces. As sad as it is, nothing can be taken cum grano salis anymore in a dishonest environment dominated by practical convenience and seems to condone lying and cheating and the denunciation and demonization of diverse political opinions.
The moral aspect, namely the human volition to seek the 'truth and nothing but the truth,' must again become part of the reasoning of how we perceive and interpret facts. It will be the task of well-educated, critical, and truth-loving, and honest citizens to demand actual truthfulness from representatives of media and politics.
