Gelene Domagsang

Our Quest for Truth in the Post-Truth Era by Anne Gelene Tobias Domagsang I have always believed that truth is the foundation of all things that mankind value the most. Finding one’s true love, for instance, is something that many people aspire. Thousands would spend their time, money, and talents in search for this one true love. Others are simply grateful to be surrounded with true friends. When you find someone who remains true to you, you are considered lucky. The essentiality of truth is crucial in all aspects of life—a young child asks endless questions in search for truth, a seller-customer relationship is founded upon the truth that a product offers, a citizen of a nation continually hopes that his leader remains true to his word. Thus, when lie replaces truth, all facets of relationships, organizations, institutions, society, and humanity, falter. Things, perhaps, got a little complicated when sources of truth and lies became camouflaged in a modern-day platform called the internet. In 2016, the Oxford Dictionaries chose “Post-Truth” as the Word of the Year. This word was chosen because it was deemed to have a lasting cultural significance—and true enough, we continue to hear this word to “denote circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”1 In this post-truth era, when more information is available than there is time to process it, people quickly believe something based on their experiences, situations, and convenience: This is truth because it makes sense to me; This is truth because I practice it; This is not truth because it would require me to change; This is not truth because no one else believes it. Eventually, truth becomes distorted, blurry, hidden, disguised, and misinterpreted. It is easy to think that absolute truth does not exist—that truth may vary—perhaps what is true to you may not be true to me. Yet, when we begin to think this way, we become what Paul in the Christian Bible described as individuals who are “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men.”2 Ultimately, there exists an absolute truth, which may be beyond the grasp of our mortal minds. In the words of an educator, Kevin Worthen, the best definition of absolute truth could be that which was described by a prophet named Jacob as the “knowledge of things as they are, and as they were” and as “they really will be.” 3 Thus, truth is truth, even if society thinks otherwise. Truth is truth even if it is beyond human reason, logic, and consensus. It is not dependent on the approval of experts or the acclamation of those in positions of power. Opinion alone has no power to change it. At the end of the day, it is our sole duty to increase our knowledge of truth and our ability to discern it, even when we find ourselves alone in this quest. Thus, in our search for truth in this post-truth world, it is not enough to simply check our sources or conduct further research to confirm the accuracy of facts. Instead, it is crucial to perhaps, once in a while, consult with the ultimate being who is the author of all truths. You know how. If you have not tried it, why not challenge yourself? It is free—you lose nothing.