Opinion: The truth of it

People gather around a component from an intercepted ballistic missile that fell near the Dead Sea in Israel, Saturday, April 20, 2024. Open fighting between Israel and Iran began April 1 with the suspected Israeli killing of Iranian generals at an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria.

People gather around a component from an intercepted ballistic missile that fell near the Dead Sea in Israel, Saturday, April 20, 2024. Open fighting between Israel and Iran began April 1 with the suspected Israeli killing of Iranian generals at an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria. Itamar Grinberg/ AP

By JOHN BUTTRICK

Published: 04-26-2024 4:55 PM

John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com

Watching and reading the news today involves frequent exposure to the word “existential,” employed to mean truth. Existential is a word that sounds more important than simply using the word, truth.

Existential is a word rooted in the philosophical theory of existentialism. The theory includes the idea that truth is subjective. Kierkegaard explains, existentialism does not disclose timeless and objective truths; it discloses “a truth which is true for me.”

The difficulty is that, contrary to the subjectivity of existential philosophy, the popular meaning has changed. It is now used to affirm an absolutely true reality. But this true reality turns out to be only the truth of a particular viewpoint. It may be believed true for the beholder, but it may not be universally true.

For example, there is the claim; it’s absolutely true that Hamas is an existential threat to the existence of a Jewish State. Or, it is absolutely true that any uprising against a state involves an existential terrorist threat to freedom and democracy. In popular usage, some will perceive Hamas as an existential terrorist threat while others may perceive an existential freedom fighter. That is, existential threats are presented as objective truths when they are in reality subjective truths of an individual speaker. Declaring subjective truth as objectively true, is an attempt to validate one’s sense of self by denying the freedom of another. Existentially, truth is in the eye of the beholder. Holding to subjective truth as absolute, results in many divisions and refusals to enter dialogue, debate, and majority votes.

Another distortion of the concept of truth involves limited details in reports and discussions. For example, there was a report on PBS news that Israel was feeling justified and compelled to retaliate against Tehran’s barrage of missiles and drones on Israel. However, the report failed to mention the prior Israeli missile strike on the Iranian Consulate in Syria on April 1, killing senior Iranian military officials. Without that information it may seem that Iran’s missile attack was unprovoked and deserving retaliation. With that information, perhaps the score is one to one, no winner no loser. How would that knowledge affect public opinion concerning the possibility of another Israeli attack against Iran?

Also, the reports of the Israeli - Gaza war always include reference to Hamas’ invasion into Israel and the accompanying atrocities. But the reports inevitably leave out any information about Israeli’s prior oppression of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank: including barricades, blockade of goods, restricting Palestinian movement and access to medical facilities, shootings of Palestinian youth, and warrantless arrests and imprisonment of adults and youth without trials. According to a report in the Monitor, there have been 111,077 Palestinians killed or injured in Gaza war. That’s 4.8% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million. An equivalency in Concord would be 2,136 killed or wounded out of a population of 44,503.

An up-to-date example of the continuing injustice inflicted on Palestinians is the recent report of the Holy Land Christian Education Foundation. In 2001, a 23-year-old Palestinian Christian, Layan Nasir, was taken from her home at 5:30 a.m. by seven Israeli soldiers accompanied by 12 military vehicles. She was held for six months. Three years later, she has been arrested again, cuffed and blindfolded by armed Israeli soldiers. Her whereabouts are unknown at this time. Without including all of the above information, it would seem that Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7 were unprovoked. With this information, cease fire negotiations may include considering Hamas not only as a terrorist group but also as freedom fighters.

The voices are loud and the pressures are great to accept the authority of subjective truth or to be satisfied with a less than complete story of the stages of a conflict. The health of a democratic society depends upon questioning subjective truth and seeking out the complete story behind war propaganda. Whenever the word “existential” is used, it may be worth exploring why the speaker has chosen to make their point-of-view sound so authoritative. And, whenever the information about a conflict seems thin, it may be worth looking for more details of the causes and effects leading up to the present situation. The truth of it is; nothing less will serve our understanding, our debates, and the integrity of democracy.