On Objective Truth, Rational Arguments, and Politics

I think I've Gotten to the Root of What's Wrong

I hit a strange nerve with a video I shared with some friends on Instagram. It was, admittedly, a controversial figure talking about the history of the public education in the US. Having read several books on the topic, I thought his premise that the American public education system was designed by and large to create obedient factory workers and later corporate drones. This is why things like economics, personal finance, and the basic ability of critical thinking are not taught in schools. Now whether this is done to create docile workers by the upper class or docile citizens by the government is up for debate, but it benefits both.

To my surprise, I learned this was a controversial opinion…and somehow political. The books I read around a decade ago presented all of the history as pure fact. Not all remains true in today’s public education system, but I thought the purpose and origin or public education was not up for debate.

Apparently, having read up on the so called “factory school model,” there is in fact a lot of controversy on whether this is true and again, is oddly political. I think having a great public education system is in everyone’s best interests and I plan on writing about it soon.

But what struck me was a realization that I’ve come to slowly over the past few years which is deeply disturbing.

Neither side agrees on the objective truth on most issues.

This is a big problem. There is opinion and then there is objective truth. Opinions are generally based upon the truth we know about a subject. But if we can’t agree on what objective truth is, how are we supposed to agree? People will have wildly different opinions since the basis on which they are formed are different. And you cannot debate unless you settle on what the facts are first.

Let me tell you why I know this so well. I was a Congressional Debate Champion in high school. Numerous times. See, most competitors would look at the topic of a bill and decide, based upon their own beliefs, which side they wanted to support. They’d only research that side and facts that supported their argument. They considered anything that went against it as invalid essentially.

I, and the others that were successful, took a different approach. Winning a competition involved being able to speak at the right times and be able to make great arguments and counter-arguments. If you only studied one side, that greatly restricted your ability to do that. So I studied both. For and against. Every time. And I got to know the strengths and weaknesses of both sides intimately. This not only allowed me to speak for or against either side, but understand how they would counter my arguments, and then be able to counter them. I recall at least a half dozen times where I left a competitor speechless during cross examination because I cited a fact or quote they didn’t even realize existed.

And that’s how I live today. I study and understand both sides of a topic. I read news with all sorts of slant so I can first see what’s in common with all of them so I can understand the objective facts, then examine how the opinions that taint so much of our media these days to further grasp the points for or against every argument.

This is the basis of why you enjoy reading this blog so much. I don’t take sides. I find fact and then make up my own mind.

I have no respect for people who blindly follow one side’s dogma or who do not take the time to understand the other side’s arguments. Either side. Both are wrong and both are right on various issues, but again that’s just my opinion. Compromise is what makes the world go around.

But when you cannot agree on the basic facts of what you are discussing, you might as well give up any hope at having a reasoned debate with each other before you even open your mouths. Making a rational argument is impossible if the other person is working with a different set of facts.

And beyond my interactions today, I see this constantly. I’m sure you do too. The right and left argue endlessly, ignore any facts that don’t support their argument, and call anything they don’t agree with “disinformation” no matter how true it may be. Note how many things about COVID are having to be walked back. Remember how we were to “trust the science”? Well, how much of that science turned out to be false?

How are we all supposed to get along in such a world?

It’s preposterous where we are as a country. It bothers me to no end watching people fight over frivolities while big issues are ignored by both sides. Why? Because that’s what they want. It’s best I don’t go into detail but I’ve seen how the sausage at the highest levels of power is made. And it was the single most disturbing experience of my life. I was honored to be included, but feel deeply distressed at what I witnessed. Trust me when I say that they want most of us poor, uneducated, and docile. I’ve seen it first hand.

And all the infighting in the US is done to us. We fight over the scraps while the government, the wealthy, and the powerful rob us blind. When was the last time you heard anyone talking about income inequality, which is only getting worse? It’s because we’re too worried about whatever the issue of the moment is and what CNN vs. Fox News thinks and all getting angry at each other. If we’d only realize that we’ve got 99% of beliefs in common maybe people would stop not speaking to their neighbor because they disagree on one issue.

People need to understand that opinions are just that…opinion. It doesn’t make anyone right or wrong and everyone is entitled to whatever opinion they want. It’s how we react to it that determines how functional society is. Having seen it, I can tell you Democratic and Republican politicians all go to the same cocktail parties and laugh at the rest of us. It’s all a show that most people put way too much stock in, including myself frequently.

The real issues we face today are things like out of control government spending, crony capitalism, the wealth gap, and the prevalence of mental illness. But we’d all rather argue for pronouns or against who bud light sponsors all day instead.

Wake up people!

We need to realize that media and politicians are purposefully driving as many wedges between all of us precisely so they can have more and more control while our rights slowly erode. Stop arguing over the small stuff. The old saying is don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do, and notice how in almost every vote, Congress doles out more and more to corporations and the wealthy with less and less for the common American.

Until we can move past emotionally arguing over minor issues that frequently don’t even impact our lives, we will not be able to fix society’s huge problems. We need to remember that there is such a thing as objective truth, come to some form of agreement on it, and then start fixing the big issues. Stop letting them play all of us like a marionette and realize the real enemy are the people diving us.