“What is truth?” we ask. Get ready, we’re about to find out. The Government is on it.
* * *
Look, give us the straight skinny, tell it like it is. We’re Americans, we can handle the truth. No misinformation, disinformation and other manipulative distortions that mask the truth. Oops. Did I just type ‘mask’?
OMG, can we just forget COVID for a day? Apparently not. It’s ingrained into our psyche, our every waking moment, what is real, what is fake.
It’s a lurking menace, a viral alien that mutates, regroups and returns with another name. It comes with its hands out, begging for more subsidies. It’s almost as ubiquitous as serial politicians who transform themselves into angels of largesse, creatures whose narratives become flesh and verity with every verbal soundbite uttered.
Today, Truth is on the rocks. But Homeland Security is interceding with ‘truth experts’ digging through the rubbish of falsehood, fake news and other misinformation permeating the airwaves. It’s called the Disinformation Governance Board, or DGB for short. It is closely aligned with another acronym, KGB. Is there a connection?
Its purpose is to root out fiction in all forms and replace it with the truth. There’s nothing wrong with getting the straight skinny. Especially when it speaks with the authoritative Voice of Verity. Who is this, you ask? Why, our government’s experts. Have you stopped laughing yet?
Experts? Is there really such a thing? Dr. Fauci exploded that theory, though to his credit the ‘absolutes’ kept moving. So, who are these experts, and from what genie bottle have they emerged?
Not to be cynical, but with the ‘existential threats’ our world is subject to (Joe’s favorite expression), who doesn’t want to know who’s in charge of the sieve that sorts reality from fabrication?
When I want an expert, I call my friend Peter, an escapee from the corporate world of greed and duplicity. He currently raises and trains hunting dogs and is acquainted with the realities of life at its ‘existential’ core. Poop happens.
Today we shoot the breeze about reality, things like the weather, dogs and hunting. I ask his thoughts on the misinformation turmoil.
“I read about it, but down here we deal with the absolutes of life, not speculative claptrap that doesn’t edify. The truth Is, and that’s a fact.”
As we talk his dog drops something at his boot. A rattlesnake, dead but its muscles still quivering. He picks up the snake, holds it out. “You want the truth? Here it is.”
“This is a strange metaphor,” I say.
“Look, this creature has only one interest, that’s to exist. It’s not necessarily an existential threat by nature, just an existentialist like us, live and let live. This snake is the ultimate arbiter. It represents life and death. These are facts, not fake news.”
He takes a small stick, peels back the curled lips of the viper. Two large fangs protrude, both dripping a yellowish venom.
“See that venom? That’s death. But if you leave him be, he won’t bother you. That’s the tradeoff…life or death. You choose. It’s called Freedom…freedom to think, to choose, to act. This is truth in its purist form.”
“There’s antivenom, right?”
“Yes, but expensive. Comes from the blood of sheep.”
“I sense Biblical overtones.”
“Maybe. Certain parallels might exist.”
Simple lifestyles and common sense often clear up a lot of conflicting mish mash about misinformation.
The next time you get hung up and anxious about things you can’t understand, here’s a suggestion: Put your palms around a set of solid steel dumb bells and the Voice of Verity will speak amazingly loud and clear.
DGB experts? Dismiss the thought. We have brains, and The Truth is just not that hard to find if we know where to look. Good Luck.
Bud Hearn
May 9, 2022