I’m glad I was developing the idea for this entry before the
election. I can say with all honesty that the victors in our elections did not
affect the content. I felt this way before the results came in. I still feel
this way.
The Greek dramatist Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC) is quoted as
saying, “In war the first casualty is the truth.” Political campaigns are not
what we first think of when we hear the word war, but it is a definite conflict
of wills and words. They involve offense and defense. They always involve high
emotions and lots of pain, mental and emotional. We hope in our free country
they never involve physical violence.
Yet there are casualties, and truth is the first. I have
been voting in presidential elections since 1968. Never have I witnessed such
campaign rhetoric as I have heard in this one. Locally we here in North
Carolina were spared the extremes in our gubernatorial race. The candidates
addressed issues and not each other. They kept the campaign focused on the
needs of North Carolinians and not on the personality traits of their opponent.
It was a most gentlemanly contest.
This could not be said for the national elections,
especially the presidency. The truth was a victim from the very beginning, and
neither side had a monopoly on crude and useless language. I got tired of
hearing the concluding statement in most ads, “and I approved this message”. My
first thought was generally, “You ought to be ashamed of approving that
message. Did you watch it before it was sent out?”
The truth is all true. That sounds weird until you hear
people saying things they consider mostly true or half true or containing some
truth. Such statements are not made to convey truth, but to deceive. A
statement that is not all true is false. Yet how much of our conversations
involve statements that we know are not all true, but we hope the listener will
accept it all as truth.
That is what sent my emotions through the ceiling so often
during this campaign. Half the story was told. Half the statement was used. The
context was ignored so as to change the intended meaning. The campaign was a
war, and truth was its first and primary casualty.
Have we reached the point in our country that not only is
such rhetoric accepted, but even expected? Have we decided that in a process of
deciding who will lead our country that truth is not an essential element? Have
we become so amoral that anything goes when it comes to convincing the public
our side is right and the other guy’s is wrong?
What is truth? Pilate asked Jesus that question (John 18).
The gospel writer had prepared his reader throughout his book to see that the
answer was not a philosophical statement but a Person. Jesus had said a few
chapters earlier (John 14) he was “the way, the truth, and the life.” An enlightening study is to read the Gospel of John, underline every time the words "true" and "truth" are used, and ponder their context.
Truth is a Person and our use of the truth should reflect
the nature of that Person. He is compassionate. The truth should not be used to
hurt. He seeks the best for others. Truth should build others up. He is
perfect. Truth should lead people into constant improvement. He is God
Incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us. Truth should point us to God, his nature, and his will for
our lives.
Truth should do these things, but only if we think the truth
is of any value other than when we use it to support our agenda.
