The Terrible Power of Personal Truth

The tag line for the once popular American television series, “The X Files,” was “The truth is out there.” Sadly this is the tag line for life in the Internet age.

I say sadly because the truth is out there somewhere, but no one can be certain, beyond one’s own interpretation, what exactly constitutes the truth. Were this simply a scholastic exercise it would be fascinating. Unfortunately the alarming rate at which the truth is brought to us in contrasting forms leads inevitably to societal mistrust, distrust, and dissatisfaction. Individuals, causes, and governments have every opportunity, thanks to these societal ills and the easy access to the Internet, to guide the thoughts and feelings of the public.

Reporters covering the February 2014 eruption of violence in the Ukraine complained that it was very difficult to find the truth because both sides in the conflict were using modern technology to falsify events. One reporter said the government ignored or played down unrest during news broadcasts. Another discovered that a photo ostensibly featuring Ukrainian protesters linked arm in arm across the landscape in a display of solidarity had actually been taken during an event in Spain years earlier. It seems the end justifies the means.

Also disturbing is the increasing trend to cover events ideologically. Both the left and the right sift through reports from the field, printing or airing only those that support the outlet’s ideological underpinnings. With the nation split fairly evenly between conservatives and liberals this serves to widen the gap between the two sides. For the most part this leads to hate mail, insinuating tweets, and blogs feeding vitriol to the choir. But where might this lead?

One television commentator, after watching footage of the conflict in Kiev, asked the question, “Could this happen here?” Following the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere created an engraving that historians believe was less than accurate. His depiction of the event, with British soldiers in formation apparently under orders to fire into a crowd of civilians, was proof enough for those in Boston who were already predisposed to believe the worst of the British. Revere’s engraving, along with accounts by Sam Adams and others, fomented hostilities between Britain and the colony.

Today’s engravings are photo-shopped images, the accounts blogs by professed experts and impartial bystanders. The battle is already being played on the Internet, in the blogosphere, and in the twitterverse.