Most of us consider ourselves as seekers of the truth. At least that’s the impression we give. You know, we praise honesty, we steadfastly demand transparency, and always claim to value fact over fiction. Unless it’s a messy truth, a boring, complicated or even uncomfortable truth; then we tend to look away. Funny that, eh?
You see, the truth asks us all to sit often with shedloads of uncertainty, whereas a good story has heroes and villains, beginnings and often happy endings, or at least a witty punchline. This can manifest itself on social media posts that reward confidence and popularity more than accuracy; or news stories that prefer outrage over nuance.
And there’s a huge cost in choosing a good story over the true one. We risk mistaking clarity for understanding, and we tend to trade depth for comfort. Given time, these stories harden into beliefs and questioning them can make you feel disloyal as if you were making a personal attack, rather than an invitation to learn.
What about us Brits? Which side are we on? Probably both. Even though we think of ourselves as plain-speaking, practical, and almost allergic to nonsense, I still reckon we may actually prefer a good story to an awkward truth. We tend to deal with an honest but uncomfortable truth as negative, unpatriotic, or simply “out of touch”.
Yet we wouldn’t be British without irony. We can mock exaggeration, roll our eyes at grandiose claims, and indeed pride ourselves on understatement. We tend to know when we’re being sold a story. But knowing and resisting are not the same thing, especially if that story flatters us, or absolves us from responsibility.
To be honest, we love the truth when it comes wrapped with humour, or softened by nostalgia. The problem starts when that truth becomes a tad tricky to justify, or just plain embarrassing. The British way of dealing with that is to laugh it off rather than face the facts. Ha-Ha!
Do we really want the truth or just a good story?
I definitely want a good story. The reason is that my life experience tells me that that the truth can be light years away from what I expect it to be.
This can be a traumatic experience so I simply prefer, rather often, to enjoy the ostrich policy.
This feature is my drawback, I know. The most stupid thing here is that I will finally face the truth, sooner or later. And will have to handle it, if it turns out to be discouraging.
Right now, I feel like I’m a bit cornered in life for a good variety of reasons. So, I prefer something that I would call ‘selective policy.’
I face some nasty things straightforward and this makes me feel stronger. For instance, now my mind is like a computer, calculating ways how to get a second part-time job as I really need it. I go through online interviews, execute test tasks, etc. It may be disappointing at the moment but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. I don’t need bathing in warm water here, I need a run in the cold park to move forward.
On the other hand, some things I would rather put in the distant drawer, freezing matters as they are and hoping that it will work out somehow, for example, in my personal life. This gives me a necessary break to regroup and come back stronger, feeling able to fix it.
The coolest thing in life is when there’s no contradiction and the truth equals a good story. Or even several ones.
I’ve had it in my life more, than once. I’ll do my very best to grab it again!
Do we really want the truth, or just a good story?
Fleetwood Mac: “Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies…”
Everybody wants to be the good guys. We all want to believe our side stands for good and Godly ideals. It’s not a reach to say that we all want to believe our country represents the very best in humanity. Our boys would never commit war crimes in the heat of battle. It’s just not possible. I can understand this, I really can. It’s hard for me to admit that the US Navy is committing murder off Venezuela.
While it may be hard for me, it doesn’t have to be for you; just turn on Fox News and sing along: “Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies…” The people who brought you Dominion Voting Machines lies (787.5 million dollar settlement) now want you to believe the we are not committing war crimes off Venezuela.
Of course, this isn’t an American thing; we all want to believe whatever we are spoon fed by our governments because this version of the truth fits with what we wish were true. Nobody wants to be the Nazis, we all want to be Harrison Ford. That guy who stands up for truth and decency, especially when the chips are down. Except Harrison is an actor and his iconic characters never existed.
Adolf remained popular in Germany well into the 1950’s and the Little Pinks in China would absolutely freak if they thought THEY were committing genocide now, as in this minute. You cannot find anybody in America today who thinks Nixon was a good President. I remember my parents were huge Nixon fans… until they weren’t. But Trump is telling the truth, unlike all those other people.
We want to believe. Nobody likes to be played for a fool and the bigger the lie the more we MUST hold on to that lie; otherwise, we look like complete idiots. Consider Mr. Trump’s base: these people have been played for fools for many years now. Demeaned, lied too, ignored, and insulted, but they finally have a champion. Now, how do you think they will respond to someone saying they have been told yet another lie. “Da Man” has played them yet again. It’s easier to just sing along.