Truth Tellers and Liars

Many of my friends lament the state of affairs in our nation and grow weary of the attacks flying around between the two political perspectives.  Conspiracy theories abound.  I spend a lot of time fact checking the news I hear and read, and am really certain that I know who is lying, who is spreading propaganda to protect their own self-interest, and who is in fact reporting news from the perspective of a non-biased journalist.

But there are ways to test truth tellers and liars that are fairly simple.  Ways I learned in my philosophy classes in college.  Here is how it goes.

There are two doors.  Behind one door are riches untold.  We’ll call that door 1.  Behind the other door is pain and death.  We’ll call that door 2.  Beside each door sits a man.  One man, Sam, always, always tells the truth.  The other man, Sean, always, always lies.  Sam and Sean know which door leads to wealth and which door leads to death.  Door 1 leads to wealth.  Door 2 leads to death.  You approach.  You can ask one of these men one question and based on their answer decide which door to open.  You ask one man one question, and open the correct door.  How did you do that?

If you asked Sam, who always tells the truth, what door Sean would tell you to open for wealth, Sam knows Sean will lie, so Sam will say door 2 because that is the truth regarding the answer Sean would give.  If on the other hand, you asked Sean which door Sam would tell you to open, and Sean knows Sam will tell the truth and answer door 1, but Sean always lies, he would answer door 2.  You open door 1 and gain untold wealth!  You choose the door neither report.

Among the many conspiracy theories floating around is one that posits Hilary Clinton had a hand in the sale of Uranium to the Russians, and somehow that is a bad thing.  The other is that Donald Trump and his closest advisors colluded with Russia to make money and gain negative information about Hillary Clinton.  How do you know which to believe?  Simple.  Let’s say Sean works for Fox News and Sam works for CNN.  Their truth and lie roles remain the same.  Ask Sean which conspiracy Sam thinks is real.  Sean will lie and say the Hillary conspiracy.  Ask Sam which conspiracy he thinks Sean will say is real, and Sam will say the Hillary conspiracy.  Therefore, the Hillary conspiracy is false and the Russia conspiracy is true.  You can change the players but the answer will always be the same.

Fox spends all day headlining false conspiracies.  Uranium, emails, Benghazi.  CNN spends all day headlining Trump, Manafort, Gates, et. al.  Fox lies.  CNN tells the truth.  In interviews on Fox the anchors always ask, “Why isn’t the mainstream media focusing on these conspiracy theories we keep bringing up?”  Simple.  They are lies.

Fox “News” is a misnomer.  Fox owner Rupert Murdoch insists that the news always favor Trump.  That’s sad because they then report beliefs rather than news, editorialize rather than report.  CNN, and ABC, and NBC, and CBS and MSNBC are committed to reporting the truth because they are owned by corporations who do not want to take sides, do not want to get sued, and want to present the news.  Therefore, those stations always appear out of step with Fox.  The problem, the liar, is Fox.  Fox Sports is pretty much what you would expect it to be, Fox TV series the same.  It is the “News” that is rampant campaign and propaganda material, totally slanted in one direction.  Perhaps the name should be changed to Fox Pas.

As soon as more and more Americans understand that, test that, fact check that, the more likely we are to agree that it is time for Trump to go.  (And take Fox and Murdock with him as far as I am concerned.)  Persecuting Hillary has been a Fox avocation for years and years.  They are determined to find something so scandalous that the real news will be ignored.  Hillary lost.  Proving anything about her is irrelevant.  She cannot be impeached as she does not hold office.  Trump is President and is responsible for all that comes out of his campaign and the Executive Branch.  Red Herrings, conspiracy theories and lies should not throw our fourth estate off the truth.  In fact, if one is perfect the blame is always cast somewhere else:  Obama, Clinton, Congress, “fake” news (which turns out to be real news), and now his son-in-law.

Trump lies.  All the time.  He must be removed from office to save America.  That is not a pro-Clinton comment.  That is a pro-American comment.