How am I supposed to live when telling the truth is not a very strong held social value? If telling lies and untruths are acceptable, how can a society survive? How do I cope in a post-truth society?
We live in a time when some of the most powerful leaders can face the entire world (an all the TV cameras) and blatantly tell lies? And what is even worst, millions of their citizens affirm that this man is telling the truth?
One of the huge news networks in the USA admitted to broadcasting untruths (they knew new items were untrue) in order to boost their ratings and the number of viewers they counted. Also, number of viewers enhances their advertising incomes.
To label this as a post-truth society is to give up on the core value we have to live together as human beings: we aim to tell the truth to each other.
Consider your family life. If one member tells lies (after the second attept) you immediately distrust him. His word is worthless! All you can do is to try to protect yourself against any further lying. Nothing destroys relationship quicker than the person who tells lies.
What do you do if you cannot trust the news media to work hard to broadcast the truth and not embellish items with sensational tidbits of money, sex and nastiness?
Our Christianity is a way of life that works hard to tell the truth, even when it is very inconvenient and difficult. Think how hard your parents worked to teach you to always tell the truth and never to lie about the things you neglected to co. Your parents were such strong proponents of truth-telling. They lived this vital religious belief with fervour.
What to do?
Our Christian faith gives us strong motivation and courage to demand that everyone tell the truth. Demand that every politician, every writer, every company and all advertising be honest. We must sharpen our refusal to tolerate anyone who tells lies.
Insist that what you hear in the media (or on your devise) is the hard-won truth. Be intolerant of those who spout off messages that need to be challenged. Use more often the observation: “I don’t think that is true!”
Truth telling is hard work. You will lose a few friends because you insisted that they speak the truth and not just hand on some juicy tit-bit that did not happen.
Survival in a post-truth society demands that that we become hard-nosed and demanding that we are given the truth, no matter how inconvenient the truth may be.
I am so appreciative that our Christian religion is based on truth telling and demands of all its followers that they in turn be truth-tellers.
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