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September 1, 2008 Student Essay: by Zachary Tan Yixiang
Truth can be relative or universal, with the former standing for something that is truthful to one but may be subjected to otherwise opinions or definitions by others and the latter denoting something that is always right, serving as an ultimate truth, similar to that of how believers value the gospel. This two different definitions or rather valuations of truth allows for many different interpretations of values, situations or phenomenon. This is because one can always argue based on the idea of relative truth as he or she may stand strong in the belief of something, proclaiming it to be the truth and ignoring the other arguments that may be set forth against it. This idea of "relative truth" whereby one tends to take on a megalomaniac attitude, that is trying to "play God" in the broadest sense, has led to a situation whereby the truth (defined as the ultimate and absolute truth) no longer matters, so much so to the extend whereby the megalomaniac personality has engulfed the hearts of many. Yes, on a societal level based on the very personal take on truth, the real truth does not matter anymore due to the "little Gods" played on by the people in the society. But from my perspective, the ultimate truth, when juxtaposed with the relative truth, does matter in today's world and it will be further elaborated in the essay. The term "truth" when used in the essay would denote the ultimate truth and not the relative truth. Truth matters because when the veil of self-delusion and denial is removed, all that remains are specks of lies and doctored truths which will not stand through the test of time due to several reasons. Firstly, the advance of the scientific realm, notably the psychological branch, will serve to uncover all the self-delusional information fed to oneself by people in the society. The psychological aspect of science encompasses a wide range of sciences that also include psychoanalysis, which is directing confronting one's inner self for the true answers; one would normally hide in their daily lives due to their internal censorship. This act of internal censorship actually puts away all the information and ideas that are perceived non-beneficial or hurting to the person, keeping them out of the focus of the person. This is further reflected in people's tendency to escape from reality, either through means of amusement, entertainment or even abuse of self and others. Therefore, as we see the advancement of psychoanalysis -- started by Sigmund Freud, a German philosopher and doctor- we expect the level of exposure of the treatment to the society to increase, causing many to realize the ultimate truth that holds in their hearts after long periods of suppression and censorship. Therefore, even though the truth- that is the ultimate/ absolute truth as defined in the introduction- may seems unimportant to many in the society now due to their inner censorship, it is crucial in the long run as long periods of self-denial is detrimental to one's mental health, causing further complications such as hysteria, a form of panic-attack or sudden outburst of emotions without any clear reasons. Thus, truth is needed in today's world. The superficiality of the society today has resulted in the distortion and the rejection of the truth. This can be attributed to the influence of the mass media. Very often, the mass media portrays subliminal messages and signals to its viewers, causing them to sway away from the real truth and be hoaxed into believing the subliminal messages. This distortion and proliferation of subliminal messages, alongside with the increasingly lack of media literacy, is dragging people away from the real truth and through long periods of "brain-washing" and repetitive exposure, the real truth becomes abstract to the viewers. This is dangerous as advertisements advocating a certain product will distort consumer's choice. For instance male health-related products would usually front a healthy-looking and muscular model in its advertisements. This has a psychological effect on the choices and perceptions of the viewers as scientific studies have reflected the sub-conscious mind picking up the messages behind the façade, which is known to us as subliminal. Here, we see that those subliminal frontages in advertisements are nothing more than means and ways exhibited by producers to maximize their profits through the sales of more products. Thus, the question arises: Are the producers' profits more important than the truth that is hidden from the consumers? The answer is no, a definite no. The truth has many underlying implications and complications as the subliminal messages will mislead consumers, causing undesirable results which are usually irreversible. For instance, in the example of the male health products, consumers will often associate the muscularity of the male model to the health product, and in a context whereby the male model is of a different ethnicity or race like European, he would tend to have a bigger body as compared to Asians. Thus, this may lead to an Asian consumer who will then consume excessively the product in a bid to reach those "levels" of the European model. This excessive consumption would have health implications which may or may not surface in the short run. Therefore, truth, in the context of information-proliferation, is of utmost importance as it directly influences the consumers' choice and attitudes and in a world today where huge emphasize is placed on the aesthetics, the mass media certainly has to convey as much truth as possible to the audience, considering the massive influence that it has in today's society. Another instance where we see how truth is of importance to many today is in the realm of the supernatural and religion. Mankind has always sought to unravel the supernatural realm, hoping to grasp full understanding of it. This action of unraveling denotes the desire of mankind to attain truth, just like how scientists set out to locate "Nessie", the famous Loch Ness Monster purportedly located in Loch Ness, Scotland. There are still debates and speculations today on the existence of the monster and it seems that the investigations and probing would only stop with the very discovery or ultimate denouncement over the existence of the sea monster. This is how truth matters to the society, as the inquisitive nature of human beings is undeniably strong when it comes to matters concerning the supernatural. Also sharing the same root of inquisition by human is whether there is an omnipotent and almighty God who governs the universe. This is manifested through the establishments of religions such as Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism, which have all proposed the absolute "truth" to the answer of God. Even the atheists- cynics who denounce the existence of God- are purporting a truth, a truth that we humans are a product of natural selection and are long descendants of the reptile family. Hence, we see how truth matters in today's world as there are simply too many instances where we see humans thirsting for a truth, showing us how truth is highly valued. Even though it has been fervently discussed and agreed upon that truth, should be in its purest form and not distorted, there are instances whereby we see the "relative truth" coming into handy with respect to certain situations. Relative truth, as defined earlier on, can be interpreted as the strong belief in something even though external influences may denounce its validity. This strong belief in one's "truth" can actually create new gateways of ideas and in certain cases, may generate revolutionary yet true ideas that may change how humankind sees the world. One best example would be Albert Einstein and his proposed theory of relativity. Both his general and special theories of relativity- that is introducing the idea that time is relative and every second experienced by each person may be different based on the gravitational field that is acting upon the body- were rejected and denounced as ridiculous by many of the scientists of his time. Despite facing heavy criticism, Einstein spurred on, holding on strongly to his "truth" that may had seemed relative to many, and proved his hypothesis to be true, making him one of the greatest genius in mankind. This clearly illustrates the point whereby "relative truth", apart from the absolute truth, does matter in today's world as they serve to be a fountain of interesting ideas and besides, with these "relative truths", can we constantly maintain the standards of us perceiving truths, with the farthest our human intellect can bring us. Adding on to the above point where we see how "relative truth" may have contributory effects to the fate of mankind. Zooming in to the more personal level with respect to relative truth, people, very often depend on their own perceptions, their own take on issues to decide for their decisions or account for the actions they make. This is very important to a society. Yes even though it seems that when a society thinks as a whole and agree on matters with a single mind it would be better, we cannot discredit the different "relative truths" of people as they are unique to each and every citizen. This makes life more interesting as interaction between people "vibrating on different frequencies", that is thinking on different levels, would improve the society as a whole as it only takes one person with a different idea to profoundly influence the whole society, or possibly even transform the entire human civilization. Take Socrates, the so called father of Western philosophy for instance, he was a man who advocated the phrase "A wise man knows himself to be a fool" and injected new blood into the younger generations, exhilarating them to think out of the box. This is what makes life interesting, even though Socrates was punished and poisoned to death, he held on to this very "truthful perception of knowledge", which has a profound impact on the world in terms of thinking today. Therefore, these "relative truths", even though are as complex as Gorgon knots and may not appear to the universal truth to all, does matter in contributing to the spectrum of perceiving life and beautify the way we see the world, giving it a more sophisticated and philosophical viewpoint. The above mentioned point further supports the claim that truth matters in today's world as we can see that the ultimate motive behind the advocates of their respective 'relative truths" is that they hold on to their valuation of truth. It shows that they place a high value on truth. Thus, to them, truth does matter. This valuation of truth is almost constant even with the flow of the Zeitgeist- a German word for the spirit of the time, or times- it is just whether their truths are equivalent to the universal truths that are accepted by everyone at the time one belongs to. Thus, till today, truth matters. There are instances whereby truth, whether it is relative or absolute does not matter at all. Just take the political arena of America for instance; Bush's decision to invade Iraq is a classic case-study. Bush and his administration had decided to invade Iraq in the name of "possible" destructive weapons hidden "undergrounds" of Iraq. This perception of possible danger, which was then proven wrong due to the lack of evidence, had brought misery and sufferings both to the civilians of the invaded and the invaders. Iraqis lament over the destruction of their homeland and Americans grieve over the deaths of their patriotic soldiers who perished for a silly cause- a total misinterpretation on Bush's part. But does truth still matters? Can the damage inflicted on the people, both physically and psychological be reversed by any means? No, truth has become such an abstract concept to the Iraqis as their lives lay before them, hoping that the Americans would disengage their nation one day. Now we shift the discussion to a more personal level, to situations that may seem more familiar to us: The House of law and justice, where truth is the gist of justice. A recent happening in 2006 saw a young girl with the name of Nazanin being sentenced to death after she reportedly kill one of the three rapists in self-defense. The truth, not relative but absolute, was that she had reacted in a way to defend her chastity, which was very important in the eyes of the Islamic world. Her act was justified yet condemned by the male jury of the Iranian court. After her death, does truth still matter? Can she still fight for her honor? No, she cannot, at least not in reality. Truth still matters to the young girl till her very last breath but to her family members and friends, truth is of little significance, the innocent young flower, in the hands of ferocious beasts, had been nipped off of her life and never to bloom again. Truth after death holds little significance in today's world, even though some value is still attached to truth, once deprived of life, nothing more can be done. The fountain of true wit is truth itself-it can be asserted that truth, whether in the form of absolute or relative truth, matters in today's world as seen in the value placed upon them by different people. Only with truth, can the world truly operates as the former gives a definite foothold to many issues and ensures law and conformity, which is the basis of any successful civilization. Zachary lives in Singapore. He is 17 years of age and enjoys writing. He is particularly interested in psychology, philosophy and sociology. Often wondering about the nature of reality, that whether there is a true and objective reality which humans are subjected to, he hopes to find the answer one day. |
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