Truth vs. Lies and Half Truths
Thomas Jefferson, a strong proponent of education, reportedly said, "An educated citizenry is a
vital prerequisite for our survival as a free society." For many years I assumed he was primarily
referring to formal education but as the USA and Canada have become more and more ideologically
separated, I have changed my understanding of his statement to put the word informed in place of
educated. As I reflect on my experience, that includes almost 40 years in and around Washington
DC, where I witnessed "how the sauce is made" up close and personal, I am more convinced than ever
that my modified understanding of Jefferson's concern is more and more relevant. If one takes an
objective look at our so-called news outlets and concludes that they are non-partisan purveyors of
the news and objective journalists, they must have dozed off in journalism 101. They are all
propaganda machines for whichever political party that they are representing while being portrayed
as reliable information resources to an uninformed public. They are just the opposite. I believe
this has amplified our differences to the point that there seems to be no common ground. If this
persists the free society that we all enjoy is doomed just as Jefferson prophesied. We have gotten
to the point where we do not have an informed citizenry. We now have an indoctrinated citizenry
fed by the biased press, that is nothing more than a propaganda arm of both major political
parties.
Several years ago, my wife and I were on a Mediterranean cruise, and we had selected a shore
excursion to a winery. Part of the visit to the winery was a luncheon which was served at one big
table. My wife was seated by my side and on the other side there was a woman who I had not
previously met, so we introduced each other. She was from Southern California, and upon learning
that I lived in Mexico during the summer and in El Paso Texas the remainder of the year, she asked
me what I had witnessed at the border, since I live very close to it. I told her that I have a close
relationship with several senior people at the border patrol, and I know several ranchers whose
property is right on the border, so I started to tell her what they had told me. About two sentences
into my report her smile turned to a frown and her face turned red. She pointed her finger at my face
a loudly exclaimed "you are a liar". She whipped her head around with her back to me and never looked
at me again. I was stunned. After all, I live on the border, and she doesn't, and she asked for my
input. I concluded that she didn't want the truth, only corroboration of the narrative that she
already believed.
Since my report did not do that, I had to be lying.
It occurred to me that the majority of people in the USA do not live close to the border, and the
input they are getting from the news outlets forms their opinion about what is happening there, and
like the lady from California, who probably still thinks I am a liar, they are convinced that what
they hear is the truth, and anything else has to be a lie.
I had a similar experience several decades earlier in Washington DC. At the time I was the president
of an international trade association, and our association was a member of a small business lobby
group.
Since I lived near DC at that time, I participated in lobbying on Capitol Hill and hearings relating
to issues of importance to our members. After a day of participating in hearings many times I would
go home and listen to the TV narrative of what had transpired that day and was shocked to hear a
report that totally contradicted what I had witnessed. The bias of the press troubled me. The
public would never hear what had actually transpired, only a version of it that fits their
preconceived narrative. Anything else must be a lie. This was a scenario that repeated itself many
times during my tenure in DC.
When I first began to participate with the small business lobby group I was introduced as "the only
real person in the room." I quickly figured out that was code for I was neither an association
professional nor a career politician as I was elected from the membership of my trade association as
the president. This was to inform them to watch what they said around me as I might reveal their
habit of justifying lying and bribing people to promote their cause to my membership, or more
damaging, to the electorate at large. It is no wonder that many call Washington DC the swamp. These
are the swamp creatures that live there and, in many cases, determine our destiny.
It doesn't take long for one to realize that everything in Washington DC works in a quid pro quo
manner. Money talks and everything else is passed by and never gets to a vote. If that wasn't true,
there would not be any lobby groups in DC spending billions of dollars. Did you ever wonder how
almost all elected officials leave office much richer than when they arrived. That is not unique to
one political party or the other. Sadly, it is true of all of them.
My growing concern for distorted reporting drove me to write a book titled Searching for Truth. It
addresses major issues facing the USA and attempts to present enough impartial data for the reader
to make more informed decisions.
My problem in conducting research for the book was in finding substantive data that contradicted the
narrative being promoted by the mainstream press. That wasn't because everyone was in lock step with
the version the press was promoting. It was because search engines prioritized the same information
that the politicians and the mainstream press were promoting. It turned out it was a difficult, but
not impossible task and, for the most part, I refrained from giving my own opinion, and, at the very
least, provided the reader with data that they probably had not heard before, and left the decision
making to them.
I was surprised to learn how many times the distorted version that the press promoted didn't outright
lie about the issues, rather many times they just conveniently left out key facts that did not support
their position. Half-truth is almost as bad as lying and leaves the consumer with insufficient data to
make an informed decision. Both bring Jefferson's prophecy closer to reality.
Most people know that medical professionals that prescribe medications have the task of weighing the
positive from the negative benefits of the drug they are prescribing. My doctors have always informed
me of those facts when prescribing medications, allowing me to weigh the net benefit after hearing
their input and make the final decision about using the prescribed drug.
We should demand the same consideration from our elected officials and if we don't feel they are
doing that we should vote them out of office. As for me, just tell me the facts, all of them, and
give me the opportunity to make an informed decision. I don't need anyone to tell me what I am
hearing so forget the talking heads telling me what I heard.
How do we make informed decisions if we only hear one sanitized version of the issues? Worse than
just hearing one version of any given situation is that what we hear is not all of what is really
happening and has been tailored to influence us to support one political party's agenda or the
other. Because we end up believing these lies and half-truths, we are driven even further apart.
We have been inundated with this kind of narrative which has been a catalyst for many to move to
Mexico to escape this non-stop barrage of misinformation.
I have talked to many who now make their home here in Mexico but have retained the political
differences that they brought with them from the USA and Canada. Many say they moved here because
they were fed up with what was happening in their respective countries but, in fact, they really
brought it with them as it is a frequent topic of conversation.
I find that they are passionate about their beliefs that were based upon lies and half-truths to
start with. Certainly, life moves slower here, and it is time to just chill out and leave the
propaganda machine behind.
Author: Tim Eyerman