So what's wrong with the truth? part 2

So how do we know what is true?

That is the question that I have been wrestling with for quite a while.

When people of differing view points come together, why do they "agree to disagree" rather than try to seek the truth?

"Agreeing to disagree" usually means one of several things: pity, apathy, arrogance, disdain, or a total lack of respect for the other person.

1. I think you are too stupid to understand my point of view so I will not bother to discuss it further.

2. I know the truth, but I am not going to bother to enlighten you - because you are not worthy of such knowledge.

3. I don't care about you enough to try to understand your point of view.

4. Your point of view is so dumb, that I am ending this conversation and leaving you in your ignorance.

5. You have not earned the right to have this discussion with me, because you are so unenlightened. These were pretty much the exact words of an evolutionary biologist I heard on the radio taking a call from an opponent (with a PhD in biology... no less).


So if we all just agree to disagree, what is the end result?

We all have our own views and we stumble around in the dark.

"The people perish for lack of knowledge" Proverbs

So what's wrong with the truth?

"Truth is so obscure in these times and falsehood so established that unless one loves the truth, he cannot know it." - Blaise Pascal

"What is truth?" Pilate

I am constantly astounded when I turn on the cable news networks to see how "journalists" have abandoned the pursuit of truth.

The "news" is who said what to whom and how did that person respond and what did the gallop polls say about what they said. THAT IS NOT THE NEWS!!

Here is a made up example:

Obama claims a full moon will rise in the eastern sky tonight.

CNN gets a reaction from the Republican leadership. "100% of Republicans are in opposition to Obama's claim."

CNBC reports that "Polisi, Reid, and the Unions are in full support of Obama's full moon initiative."

FOX news conducts a poll. 45% agree with Obama, 42% agree with the Republicans. The poll breaks on party lines. No big surprise there. Independents are divided but breaking slightly with republicans.

NO ONE bothers to check the freakin Farmer's Almanac to see if there is in fact a full moon rising in the eastern sky tonight.

Truth is irrelevant.

God help us all.

The pursuit of truth is weighing heavily on my mind lately. Not just in terms of cable news, but in terms of things that really matter. Things that we should all be teaching our children. Things that make a difference in this life and the next.

How do we know what is true and what is false?

Finally an academic like me

I went to one of those academic presentations today. These things are usually extremely boring with a heavy dose of esoteric statistical methods. My eyes usually glaze over about 15 to 20 minutes in.

Today's presenter, a Harvard man, presented evidence to support his theory that government spending is actually bad for the economy.

As a person that has written numerous letters to congress in opposition to stimulus spending and bailouts, I was intrigued.

His reasons were much better than anything that I have ever come up with. And his data... oh the data...lots of data and regressions...

Basically, what he showed is that when government spending increases in a state, the private sector (in aggregate) cuts capital spending, employment, R&D expenditures, etc.

Even if a few companies in the state do better because of the increased government spending, in aggregate, the state's economy is worse off than before because the private sector is crowded out of the market.


Here is a link to the paper: http://www.people.hbs.edu/cmalloy/pdffiles/envaloy.pdf

Google's ad sense

I don't know if this distracts from the blog or not, but I added ad sense today. I will see how it goes for a few days - remove it if its too intrusive.

Who's advice should I take?

Our family Bible reading this morning was from the Chronicles - right after Solomon died. His son, we called him "Bo," was in the process of establishing his kingdom.

A contingency from Israel who had served his father came to him and asked him to lighten their work load a bit. Bo asked his fathers advisers what he should do. They said that if you lighten their load, these people will be your grateful servants for as long as you reign.

Bo then asked his peers what he should do. They gave him the opposite advice. Make these people work harder and make their punishment even more severe.

Bo listened to his peers. The kingdom was soon divided and Bo only got to reign over a small fraction of the kingdom that his father had established.

Imagine that you are offered advice from the advisers to the "wisest man that ever lived." Lets just say that it is financial advice. Then you go out on the street, find a homeless man and ask his advice. Whose advice to you take?

Answer: You take the advice of the person that told you what you wanted to hear.

Problem: No matter what type of lifestyle you want to lead, no matter what choices you make with your time, money, resources, relationships, etc... you can always find someone to affirm your choices. A quick read through the ads in Atlanta's "Creative Loafing" confirms that you can find a support group for ANYTHING. I mean Anything.


I believe that every generation is guilty of Bo's folly. We ignore the advice of our elders and seek counsel from our peers or from people who tell us what we have already decided is right. What do we do with this baby? Do you ask your grandmother? Or do you ask your friend with the 2 month old?

Should I marry this person? You find the ONE friend that affirms you and you tune out the 20 that say no.

So what is the wise thing to do?

Somewhere else in the Bible it says that if you walk with the wise, you will become wise. The next sentence says that a companion of fools will be destroyed.

In Bo's case, he chose to be the companion of fools and his kingdom was nearly obliterated.

So, what is our challenge?

I think that our challenge is to identify the wise people in our lives. People, like Solomon's advisers, who have the "fruit on the tree" to prove their wisdom. People who care about us and do not have a "stake" in the decision.

The harder challenge is to put aside our biases and to somehow make ourselves receptive to advice that is the opposite of what we want to hear.

The even harder challenge is follow the advice of the wise, even when all of your peers are doing just the opposite.

Its been over a year

Blogging was such good therapy after the loss of our little Grace. I appreciate the few readers that came this way!

When we found out that Evelyn was pregnant again, I quit blogging for a while.

Now Abigail is almost 7 months old!

So why blog now?

I was reading back over my posts and I have forgotten so many little things that happened with our family.

This blog is for me...to help me remember. You are welcome to come along for the ride.