Standing Up for Truth
Move over, Elon…
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As a burgeoning writer, albeit too late in life, I should have the sense and courtesy to recognize that when my daily urge is to write about the importance of truth — it’s already game over.
This is an argument that should not need a champion. But it does…
The inevitable conclusion of the last couple of years is that people would rather believe bias confirming lies than act on inconvenient truths.
This is so even if such beliefs kill them. For proof — check the death rates from Covid-19 in the counties that voted overwhelmingly for Trump. (Hint: It’s much higher in those counties… doh!)
There is pervasive collective denialism sweeping the globe. It is fueled by right-wing, autocratic propaganda. Though, we must throw the Chinese Communist Party under that same bus for good measure, whether it is left or right.
Each day, in the face of this trend, when I sit to write what I genuinely care about, I find myself returning to the theme of truth.
Recently, Elon Musk conducted another one of his Twitter “polls.” This one didn’t ask whether he should sell some of his billions in stock. This time, Musk tweeted this:
The combined tweets show Musk’s assertions that:
1- “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.” and;
2- “Twitter is the defacto public town square [and that it] fundamentally undermines democracy.”
Whatever talent Musk has as an accumulator of money isn’t matched by his logical or rhetorical skills.
His premises are (to borrow his word) fundamentally flawed.
Though, on the face of it, Elon’s statement that free speech is essential to a functioning democracy seems right, doesn’t it? But, a more careful examination reveals that it just isn’t.
It’s not that ALL Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Instead, it’s that all TRUE speech is vital.
