Yesterday I saw a commercial from AARP that particularly incensed me, but that is emblematic of one of the key problems of our times. The AARP commercial shows a bunch of words like “fluff” and “spin” and shows old people struggling to find the truth about social security and then promotes the ability of that corrupt organization to provide the “facts” about social security and make an implicit threat of a revolt of the elderly against those who would threaten the entitlement gravy train, even as it claims that the policies it supports would allow social security to remain strong for generations even as our nations faces imminent and serious bankruptcy. The gap between the lofty claims of AARP to be an unbiased and factual source of information and its reality as a corrupt lobbying organization seeking pork and engaging in generational warfare is a massive one.

AARP is certainly not alone in this sort of problem. Everywhere one turns it is easy to find a large gap between lofty claims and sordid reality. It is easy to paint a pretty picture, to put together a narrative, to airbrush the ugly truth out of what others see, but it is considerably more difficult to be virtuous. I particularly value the virtue of truth and sincerity, and it would appear as if one of the reasons these virtues are so rarely practiced is that they do not pay for many people in the short term, and the long-term ideals of trust and reputation are simply not valued enough to make it worth the while of others to cease their present and enjoyable dishonest dealings. While people in general want to be trusted, few people are willing to engage in those behaviors that build up trust over a long time and that show others that we are people of integrity.

A worldview is only as strong as its factual foundation. If our beliefs are grounded on error, then the superstructure of our behaviors and opinions and judgments will also be erroneous. If we believe that people are safe when they are unsafe, or unsafe when they are safe, we will act in ways that will either lead us into grave danger or we will act in ways to offend others and make unnecessary and fierce enemies. If we believe that people are too different than we are, we will neglect ways to find common ground and common understanding based on our common beliefs and longings. If we believe that people are too similar to what we believe, we will be disappointed when we find out that agreement we thought was total ended up to be only partial in nature. It would therefore seem natural that fact-finding efforts would make a big part of our foundational efforts, so that we can build on top of a sure foundation rather than on shifting and uncertain sands.

And, interestingly enough, education used to be built this way, in the trivium. We used to start with facts that were learned, and then we learned how to understand the connection between those facts, before engaging in rhetoric. After all, the ancients knew (but we seem to forget) that rhetorical skill is only beneficial and helpful to the extent that it rests on the sure ground of reality. We all have biases and perspectives, but an honest appraisal of these allows others merely to counteract what they know to be our blind spots and biases, rather than feel it necessary to reject what we say altogether. It is only when we falsely present ourselves as unbiased sources and attempt to wipe away the evidence of bias through selective presentation of the truth that the effort of correcting that bias outweighs the value of the news that we present. Ironically enough, the more we try to pose and present ourselves as uniquely suited sources of truth, the less able we are to provide any information of value at all to anyone. It therefore behooves us to cease lying and to be honest and sincere, recognizing our partiality but seeking the firmest ground on which to base our judgments and opinions.