IN THE  SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH-NGUYEN DUONG

IN THE  SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH
 
            Truth is a divine virtue that all religions seek to promote (God is Truth: Gospel of John). But in reality, Truth is a concept discussed widely without reaching a clear result about the potential of the truth to offend.
            A very long time ago, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates (Plato’s mentor) let it be known that he trusted Plato but he believed more in Truth. At that time, Aristotle, who was Plato’s pupil, was considered one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived and also the first genuine scientist in history. Socrates also declared that “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
            This essay does not dare to discuss the diverse theories of various theologians concerning the message that “the Truth will set you free” in the Bible so it contains only my personal thinking.
            The Lady Justice in front of the US Supreme Court represents the truth, holding an equal balance and wearing a blindfold to avoid the corrupting influence of power and wealth.
            In the saying “rules are made to be broken,” the Truth can be substituted for rules.
            Between Truth and Fact: Truth and Fact are not similar, “fact is something indisputable;” a fact does not have to be believed while “truth may be based on fact, it is subjective because it includes the element of belief.”
            During the Soviet Era in Russia, the newspaper PRAVDA (Truth in Russian) professed to publish the truth while actually promoting communist party propaganda. (“Truth was scarce in Stalin’s Soviet Union,” by The Red Hotel Moscow 1941 by Alan Philps, Pegasus) and even now under Putin’s rule, the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is termed a “special military operation” of self-defense.
            Communist propaganda is numero uno in the competition for who can lie the best and most easily, readily distorting the truth. Hence, the words of the late President of the Republic of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu: “Do not believe the communists’ words, but do believe their actions,” similar to the common saying “actions speak louder than words.” During the Vietnam War, a common story promoted by the communists told of a North Vietnamese pilot who hid in the clouds to ambush US jets. Even when the fuel tank on his plane was hit by bullets, he used his bare fingers to stop the leaking fuel, according to the story. That legend was so publicized in North Vietnam that the public naively believed it, including the well-educated Dr. Duong Thu Huong, who later admitted that she was blinded and brainwashed by the communist party.
During World War II, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda minister repeatedly said: “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself!” despite how he declared that “The Truth is stronger than the Lie.”
            Almost everyone has heard a version of the classic folktale, going something like this: one day long, long, ago, a peasant screamed in panic “there’s a wolf!” at the market. Nobody believed him, knowing that there was no such thing because wolves are afraid of humans. Undisturbed, they continued as they were. A while later, another person announced again “there’s a wolf!” but everybody still conducted business as usual. More time passed, and then a third person repeated that there was a wolf at the market. Finally, everybody stopped their work and sounded an alarm for everybody to chase away the wolf.
            Not too long ago, we all remember former President Clinton’s official statement: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” telling the truth only through legal hair splitting.
The same case happened during WWII when the owner of the house that hid Anne Frank told the Gestapo that no Jews or other people who did not fit the Nazis’ ideal Germany were living in his house. Or in the aftermath of the North Vietnamese communists’ invasion of South Vietnam, countless homeowners hid South Vietnamese officials and soldiers, despite the fear of being found by the notoriously harsh police.
            Long ago, Vietnamese folklore tells the story of four blind fortune tellers  who describe an elephant based on what it feels like. Touching its leg, one describes a column; the ear becomes a fan; the tail, a broom; and the trunk, a big leech. None of the answers are correct and all are different but all represent the men’s individual truth relative to what they felt.
            During former President Trump’s administration and the current post Trump era, fake news is abundant, and even photos cannot be believed because of the increasing prevalence of AI generated images. When presidential hopefuls campaign, their speeches can be taken out of context and manipulated into an opponent’s weapon.
            Even Hollywood cannot escape from the truth/lies: the renowned anchor Dan Rather was burnt in the movie “The Truth” (2015) for defending the use of a fake document of President W. Bush’s military immunity. Another movie “Truth or Dare” (2017) asked: “What is the last lie you told?”
            Another pop culture example is the story of the fisherman who bragged of angling a “huge” fish that managed to escape him!
            History is written by the victors (Winston Churchill) or “La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure” (Jean de la Fontaine in Le Loup et l’Agneau, 1668), loosely translated as “The reason of the strongest is always the best.” The victors will write history as they want, and not only that, future generations must learn their stories. We know very well that nowadays, the news is censored, such as the story of a Vietnamese Minister of Public Safety (Police) who ordered a steak laced with 24K gold by chef Salt Bae in London. The steak cost about 1,450 English pounds, although his monthly official salary is barely a tenth of that!
            Once in a while a writer dares to tell the truth, but how and who can we trust? Even historical anthropologists or archeologists cannot always be believed because in their time, the artists earnings depended on the rich and powerful officials who could order any artifacts/ scultptures to be molded to fit their whims or desires.
            Another aspect is how torture can affect the truth. Can or will someone subject to torture (like water boarding during the Gulf Wars) tell the truth? Lie detectors, although less barbaric, have only 80% to 90% accuracy, and truth serum drugs remain illegal. Gambling or drinking however, can reveal some things. Lisa Genova, in her book Remember (2021) states “even witness’ memory can be distorted when recalls are faded,” to say nothing of “truth” revealed during torture.
            There is the saying “quote with books but justify with facts” but books cannot be completely trusted because it depends on the author’s opinion only at the time, rendering the text faded over the years. Facts too, can be manipulated.
            Shall we use the Gaussian curve or normal distribution in statistics to discuss the truth? Which confidence interval shall we use: 95% of 2 standard deviations or 99.7% for 3 standard deviations?
The truth and reliability of the fact checking website Snopes is disputed too.
 
 


The painting “Truth Coming Out of Her Well” by Jean-Léon Gérôme in 1896 depicts a 19th century legend, where the Truth and the Lie meet one day. The Lie says to the Truth: “It’s a marvelous day today!” The Truth looks up to the sky, and the day indeed is really beautiful. They pass the time together, at last arriving beside a well. The Lie tells the Truth: “The water is very nice; let’s take a bath together!” The Truth, still suspicious, tests the water and discovers it truly is very nice. The pair undresses and starts bathing. Suddenly, the Lie rushes out of the water, puts the Truth’s clothes on, and runs away. The furious Truth rises out of the well and sprints to find the Lie and retrieve her clothes. The world, seeing the Truth naked, shuns her and turns its gaze away with contempt. The Truth, ashamed, returns to the well and disappears forever, hiding therein. Since then, the Lie travels around the world, dressed as the Truth, satisfying the world’s wishes, because no one wants to see the bare, naked Truth, even if it is what they need.
Mark Twain once wrote: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the Truth is still putting on its shoes.”
Every day we have to be on alert whenever an unknown number rings the phone or emails or texts, searching for someone to scam.
Recently, Sander van der Linden wrote the book Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity (2023), discussing lies as super viruses which require us to develop and distribute a vaccine.
So where is the Truth? How to find it? Must we ask Diogenes to look for a man (Truth?) with his lantern during midday? It is easy to lose acquaintances, friends, and family. In conclusion, I like to return to the question, “what is the last lie you told?”
 
 
Duong Nguyen (2023)
“Let GOD be true but everyone else be a liar”
(The Bible)