truth and politics

"I dream of a world where the truth is what shapes people's politics, rather than politics shaping what people think is true"

- Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Wise words from our world’s shining beacon of science. In our current political climate, finding the truth is hard. We are fed media, but can we really trust it? In the day and age of “fake news,” is any news actually correct? And who do we trust enough to believe?

These, I believe, are the questions we should be asking.

The answer should be simple, emphasis on the should. Nowadays, left and right media are butting heads, making things seem like the Republicans or the Democrats are either Nazis or commies. Every article is so terribly skewed, with so much hidden opinion and insinuations that it’s hardly news, but an opinion piece. It takes me back to standardized testing: a news piece is the selected reading and I have to choose between two ovals to fill in.

The objective of this piece is:

a) to persuade

b) to inform

I sit there unsure, finally choosing B because I haven’t picked that one in a while.

Our nation is split in two: the “left” and the “right.” This house divided surely isn’t boding well for the American citizens. And letting yourself make decisions based solely on whether you like the elephants or the donkeys is the most dangerous part. My sociology teacher remarked the other day that Democrats are so outraged that Trump has decided to attack Syria, but if in an alternate world Hillary had decided that the same plan was going to be our foreign policy with a country at a civil war, Democrats would be all for it.

Letting our views become skewed by which party we identify with is dangerous and threatening to our democracy. The truth is bipartisan. Better yet, the truth has no parties at all. The truth is the truth, and that’s what we should allow to influence our political choices.

-Cailin