Truth is an essential element of society in the United States. The advocacy of false information and reliance on lies has led to a deep divide in our nation. Truth is a value for most religions and is the cornerstone for most relationships in a secular sense.
Every Day Reliance
Citizens rely on the truth every day without thinking about it. Our cell phones keep accurate time. Most scheduled appointments occur. Food stays good to the sell date. Signing papers transfers ownership of a house. Mechanics fix our cars. We trust the organizations that do what they promise.
Truth can be straightforward – the car part has been replaced – or complex. Like the well-known parable of the blind men evaluating the nature of an elephant, for complex issues, we do need the combined perceptions of the people touching the trunk, the tusk, the ear, the body, the leg, and the tail.
The Alternative to Truth
Imagine if someone at Apple fiddled with the official time on its products. Alarms would not go off when expected, and adults and children would be late for work or school. If a city employee reprogrammed the traffic lights so that every light at a four-way intersection was green at once, there could be crashes, injuries, or loss of life.
We expect stores to be open during their stated business hours, the prices on products to be accurate, and real estate agents to be honest. So much of life relies on these small but essential truths. If these truths are replaced with false information, people really suffer.
Truth is Part of Our Social Contract
For many aspects of our lives, laws protect us from people who would just do things their own way. Drivers under the influence endanger themselves and other people on the road, so they get pulled over. Contracts, agreements, oaths, and vows rely on all parties being truthful.
Businesses that do not actually deliver what they promise can be sued in court. A woman giving false testimony in a court case perjures herself.
Degrees of Truth
Truth has degrees of severity. The “white lie” about the beauty of someone’s outfit is meant to avoid hurting another person’s feelings. Some situations might require lying if a person has no right to the information requested. (For example, those who hid Jews during the Nazi Holocaust had the right to lie and say noone else was living there.)
We can also acknowledge that one person’s perspective may not tell the whole story. Any time there is an account of an event in the news, there has been some level of personal perspective. One person cannot see an event from every angle or hear what every attendee said.
Leadership and Truth
When people come to find out that leaders have lied, their trust in the organization or institution falters or disappears. When Catholics found out that bishops had knowingly moved predatory priests from parish to parish, their faith in the Catholic Church was shaken, understandably. In an effort to try and portray the institution as flawless, these decision-makers denied the claims of numerous victims and thus tarnished the Church’s reputation and caused irreperable damage to human beings and their loved ones..
The Truth and U.S. Government
The current legislative and judicial branches of government exemplify why truth is so important. Donald Trump’s lies were picked up by members of his party running for the U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress. More people are calling on members of the Supreme Court to disclose the money and privileges they have received and to reveal which of the donors had business interests in Supreme Court cases.
Politicians take oaths of office. During Donald Trump’s presidency, I wondered how many of his lies it would take to nullify his oath of office. Claiming that he had been robbed of the election angered followers. Calls to interrupt the election certification further encouraged people to direct their anger towards Mike Pence. Now, many of these people are in jail. Several people are dead and others suffer from physical injuries and psychological trauma.
In Short . .
Lies have negative consequences, sometimes significant ones. Truth is essential to keep society moving forward. Lies undermine what positive citizens do. They distract from good ideas and good works. Truth is an essential element of society in the United States.
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