In an earlier blog I pondered the paths of blame and reconciliation as responses to recent events. It still feels like forgiveness is the higher calling.
You can hear a but coming, can’t you?
Having lived through an era where politicians finally abandoned any pretence of loyalty to the truth it is hard to envisage how those who perpetrated these crimes could ever be persuaded to admit their guilt.
Such is the depth of their perversion, they almost certainly now believe the lies they once concocted to be true. How then, can reconciliation ever be possible? Reconciliation of what?
But this goes beyond politics. The truth has always been a tricky concept, especially when we go deep and start probing the nature of reality and why we are here.
But there is a world of difference between that legitimate debate and the downright denial of hard facts or the blatant synthesizing of alternative realities.
This is not a new conflict. The old religious wars were fought over different versions of reality, each side believing they were fighting for a God given truth. And those wars continue.
So if the conflict between truth and lies is ancient and subjective, can it ever be ended?
It surely must. This is now becoming an existential crisis for humanity. Imagine if the pathogen which has ravaged our society was just a few degrees more lethal. Our tolerance for the masses who refuse to accept the science would be tested to breaking point. Yet we can hardly blame those who don’t know better.
The real culprits are much fewer in number and they know exactly what they are doing.
It is so tempting to think a return to Nuremberg might be the answer. But how would we get there? Via visits from the truth police? We can see where that might lead.
One thing is for sure, we cannot step aside from the challenge because it is hard to solve. The longer we leave the problem of unchallenged liars the greater the damage that will be done.
One solution is revealed in Infinite State, the final part of my fictional drama, the Infinity Trilogy. Fiction it may be but it demonstrates the art of the possible. Infinite State is available now from Amazon. Check here for details.
Photo by Sandra Dempsey on Unsplash