- Personal opinions are increasingly mistaken for objective Truth, creating doubt and uncertainty.
- Media platforms amplify subjective perspectives, making the pursuit of truth more difficult.
- Only a greater truth that transcends individual perception can unify and guide society.
Over the last 30 years more people assert what they consider to be their personal Truth. Most of the time they refer to their own opinions. So, opinion, which is based on perception and personal subjectivity, is now considered and asserted as the Truth. This suggests that if every different opinion is Truth, then there is no Truth. But people must not insist that opinion based on perception, is the Truth.
Methinks the Truth is more than just a profound philosophical view. Truth must be based on the nature of reality and factual accuracy. It transcends human understanding.
Media, subjectivity, and confusion
For example, looking at the number of so-called analysts, podcasts and show anchors interview each other and their friends, their personal relations and interpretation of things – which are subjective – are peddled as the Truth. This idea is slowly plunging a fragmented society into a crisis. It means the objective Truth is elusive.
You will find someone saying, “South Africa is free and democratic. Blacks make political choices.” Then you hear someone, at the same table or meeting, insisting that “There is neither freedom nor democracy here. Blacks were hoodwinked and bamboozled.” So, who has the authority to say who is right or wrong? Or who is speaking the Truth?
Everything is relative now. It depends on how an individual looks at things. It is a matter of opinion based on personal perspective. You see a Truth based on each person’s experience and interpretation of the world is inherently problematic.
The limits of subjective truth
A man can find his wife in his bedroom with another man. And the wife tells him that he is a friend or cousin. “This is not what you think it is.” And she will stick to her story as her ruth. So, the man has no case except his own dismissable Truth.
I guess these podcasters and news anchors who invite guests to peddle and validate their own truth are a waste of time. We must recognise the power and limitation of our perceptions in pursuing the Truth. We need to find a way to liberate ourselves from this personal and subjective Truth. It is wobbly and creates doubt and uncertainty. In fact, it peddles confusion.
Imagine one person saying, “The ANC has renewed itself. We have changed.” Yet a former insider who has recently left to join MKP insists that “The ANC is inherently corrupt and will never change.” So where is the truth?
Striving for the greater Truth
I think the Truth – with a capital T – exists. Thus, we must find and define the transcendental Truth that shatters and goes beyond individual perceptions. Diverse as we are, with somewhat relative opinions, the overarching Big Truth is the only thing that must bind us. Let us strive for the Greater Truth.
Conviction.co.za
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