Tell Us The Truth!

 About 2 years ago we were just getting the first reports that something was amiss in Wuhan.  Later intelligence "revealed" covid could already have been in Italy Dec 2019! (Tests on sewer matter),

 We are still dealing with it now. Thousands of daily cases in the UK alone, hundreds or thousands of deaths daily Worldwide.  More lockdowns (in Europe - Austria, Netherlands) as a Fourth Spike is announced.  We are still vaccinating, and boosters for those 6 months after their 2nd jabs.

Legislation in the UK to "force" front line NHS and Care Workers to vaccinate or face being fired.

Most supermarkets are still recommending wearing masks indoors.  I know I wear my mask if I shop, and I hand sanitise everywhere I go.  It makes sense to me.  Prevention is better than cure, right?

I wonder where we'll be next year?

Then there's climate change.  We've just concluded the COP26 talks in Glasgow.  From what I read in the news it's a positive step forward... but I watched The Day After Tomorrow on TV yesterday - filmed in 2004, and 17 years on we've not heeded that warning one little bit!

I'm a bit rusty on my Nostradamus, but I'm fairly sure he "predicted" the end of the world would come from the Middle East (or at least that's what his "interpreters" chose to suggest).  What if our demise wasn't from war (or terrorism) which is what we immediately assume, but from our dependence on oil? 

A friend of mine is very religious and recently posted some threads about this being Biblical, Revelations type scenarios.  One of his posts on FB had an "independent fact-check" reply/overlay on it refuting his info, and that lead me to wonder about who we can really trust - because his original post about covid data integrity seemed to come from a valid source - the URL looked legit, but the refute seemed to come from the same source!

We really don't know who to trust - our politicians spin one way, our religious leaders another.  Covid, Brexit, Climate Change - how do we know what we're being told is the truth?  We don't!

If we "fact check", how do we know what we're reading is the truth or a counter-lie?

We live in uncertain times - as a Nation, the UK is going through a lot - and what we really need right now is someone to trust - someone that will tell us the honest truth - no matter how harsh, so that we can face it head on and deal with it.

Truth, Justice and the [insert country name] Way!

I have always been a bit proud to be British.  I'm not saying Britain is better than anyone else, that other countries are in any way inferior.  I'm just saying I'm a bit proud to be British.

I think we are a very tolerant nation, on the whole, and I like that. I think we tend to accept people for who they are, and as long as you're happy to live with our quirks and foibles, we'll live with yours.

Our islands have been invaded often - sometimes from abroad - the French, the Vikings, the Romans to name a few - and we've done a bit of invading ourselves - which is how we became the UK in the first place!

The United Kingdom of Great Britain.  I do like that name!

To me, Britain (to use it's short name) is Great because it's people are made up of many cultures and creeds, many beliefs that co-operate and co-exist in relative harmony.  We accept new ideas, we offer equal opportunities to all.  We look after each other - and in times of crisis we work together for the common good.  We have friends all around the World, and I have always felt that the rest of the World see us as an honest nation - hard working and just. 

I might be wrong though.  I don't know how the rest of the World sees us now.  I went to see a comedian recently who joked that the World views Britain as a bit of a joke - and I'm afraid to say Brexit has done a lot to destroy our credibility - our desire to leave the EU has been plagued from the start, and our attempts to break free are laughable on occasion.  I don't think the EU want us to go and are making things difficult for us - I think they hope we'll change our mind.

I'd like to think it's because they value us as a member state, but I think they just want to keep the money we contribute - and to be fair, I think that's why we need to leave.  If you have a relationship with someone that only wants what you can give to them, and doesn't care about your opinions, or what you want - would you stay?

So, are we a joke?
I don't know.  But despite it all - I'm still proud to be British!

The Truth is Out There

truth

/tru:ϴ/

noun

1.    the quality or state of being true.

"he had to accept the truth of her accusation"

synonyms:		veracity, truthfulness, verity, sincerity, candour, honesty, genuineness; More

o    that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.

noun: the truth

"tell me the truth"

synonyms:		the fact of the matter, what actually/really happened, the case, so; More

o    a fact or belief that is accepted as true.

plural noun: truths

"the emergence of scientific truths"

synonyms:

fact, verity, certainty, certitude; More

I was browsing through Facebook the other day and stumbled across a discussion on politics.  Actually, what really happened was, I was browsing Facebook the other day looking for some fun cat memes and had someone else’s political rant subjected upon me.  

The content of the “discussion” was the same as usual – one person saying left-wing is right, the other saying right-wing is right.  Some Liberal saying middle-of-the road is right, everyone shouting down the other opinions, some name calling, some bigotry, some closed minds but very open mouths.

For a start, I have never understood the need some people have to argue with strangers about politics.  What’s the point?  They’re suddenly going to see the light? “Oh wow, I’ve never looked at it like that!  I’ve been wrong all these years!”  Really?  

Whenever I see stuff like that I always recall that wonderful quote; “Never argue with an idiot. People watching won’t be able to tell the difference.”

But the thing I wanted to mention isn’t the futility of arguing with anyone, about anything, on forums and social media – it’s this… buried deep within this rant was someone who said

“You just cannot trust mainstream media to deliver the truth these days.  Thank God for Facebook and Twitter!”

And I almost choked on my cup of coffee over the ridiculousness of that statement.  

It brought to mind another of my favourite quotes – this time attributed to Rick Warren:  “A lie doesn’t become the truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good just because it’s accepted by the majority.”

And that made me think “what is truth”?  What is it really?  Is popular opinion the truth? Well, we all know that’s not correct. Truth is, I suppose, whatever the facts tell us is the truth – but what happens if the person reporting those facts is lying?  Or presents those facts in a biased way so as to skew the perception of them?  How can we ever trust what we are being told is true?

It used to be that we would go to our personal, trusted source for the truth – something like the BBC perhaps?  Or our favourite newspaper?  But in this age of misinformation, I suspect even those media giants are sometimes swayed by the personal bias of the reporter, or maybe even (dare I say it) the political leanings of the moguls that own them?  How can we trust they’re giving us the whole, unbiased, carefully researched truth?

I find it almost impossible to believe anything I see, hear or read these days.  When images can be manipulated, articles faked up to look like coming from genuine sources, and the proliferate use of fake news to discredit people or incite argument. 

How can I trust social media, when some posts are desperate to promote likes, shares and ReTweets – knowing that some of these will end up re-branded and sold on to advertisers for profit, or maybe worse (if you believe everything you read) used to fund terrorism?

One final note – maybe the truth is whatever you want it to be? Maybe you only see what you want to see? Believe what you want to believe?  It used to be that if you didn’t hold with mainstream belief, you’d be labelled a sceptic; and if you believed the goal of the messenger was to promote some self-interest , you’d be a cynic – and these were negative labels” “Oh you’re such a cynic!” or “Stop being so sceptical! Just accept it’s the truth!”

I personally feel we should be more cynical, more sceptical, and willing to disbelieve.  I don’t think we should take anything at face value (or as gospel to use an alternative idiom).  

Before I accept something as the truth, I always think – What’s the source of this information? Can it be verified elsewhere?  What is the writer trying to achieve by writing/publishing this? 
Not everything that is posted on social media is as innocent as it looks, so if you’re unwilling to be sceptical or cynical, at least don’t be gullible!

One more quote before I go. I Googled it so I know it must be true!
"You can't believe everything you read on the internet." ~Abraham Lincoln, 1868

Mind Reading

It occurs to me today how much better off we are not being able to hear other people's thoughts, and vice versa. I caught myself thinking something that I truely would not have wanted to share with the person I was talking to.

Nooo.

And yet, I sit and wonder what other people are thnking all the time. Are they telling the truth? Why do they seem to dislike me so much? What have I forgotten? Am I in trouble? We try to use subtle clues to give us these answers - reading body language, nuances in expression, reading between the lines of the spoken words. I am rubbish as it. Truely, I am.
I always end up just asking "Are you lying?", "Why do you dislike me so much?" and so on - and then try and fathom out whether their replies are truthful - hoping that twitch of an eye, suppressed smile, nervous twitch, is a clue.

I long for the truth - I never lie, myself. It's too much like hard work. Far easier to tell the truth - but maybe just censor the bits that might not be so welcome. If someone asks me a question and they might not like the answer, I wrap that bad news in a bit of something nicer - but I still tell the truth. If everyone did that, life would be a lot more painful, but a lot easier too. At least we'd know where we stood.