I knew that when I published the previous post that I hadn’t really got to the end of the story and that more needed to be said around the subject of truth and facts and belief. Little did I know though that pretty much before the ink had dried on that post I would hear another extreme example of the issue from across the pond.
There is a lot that could be said about the meeting between the heads of SA and USA and I am sure I haven’t got the skills to fully analyse everything that happened. In the same way that the previous ‘ambush’ of the Ukrainian leader was ‘orchestrated’ this – to my mind – broke all the rules of how we should treat one another.
The narrative of the supposed ‘genocide’ of white farmers in South Africa had been circulating for quite a while. Like many other examples it is a narrative that suits the purposes of those in power in the US. Using the position of power that he has in the White House treating a guest – let alone a foreign leader – to a barrage of criticism and (in this case seemingly unfounded) accusations in front of a TV audience is just awful.
This post though is not about the behaviour itself, rather it is to look at the fiction that lay behind the accusations. There was seemingly photographic ‘evidence’ and video ‘evidence’, however from what I understand the photographic evidence was simply inaccurate as it did not originate from South Africa but from a different country altogether and the video evidence, whilst the video itself was (probably) genuine the interpretation of what it showed was highly suspect.
It seems unlikely that this ‘evidence’ was ‘found’ by the president himself – more likely someone had provided him with this ‘proof’ of the allegations. There is therefore good reason to think that there were a number of people involved who ‘approved’ of it and were OK with the nature of the accusations.
Alongside many other narratives being pushed by the administration it seems that there is a group of people who are either stupid or who believe that they are clever and that everyone else is therefore stupid (or at least stupid enough to believe what they are being fed). Now, it seems that recent events have proved that there are a sizeable number who are that stupid – but it is certainly not everyone. Unfortunately, because the narrative is out there backed up by tons of ‘evidence’ it becomes really hard for anyone to change the narrative.
Hold on – do some of those pushing the narrative actually believe that it IS the truth?
Belief systems tend to be self reinforcing – people look for reasons to continue in their beliefs – they tend not to look for reasons to modify them. There are countless examples through the years of “truths” that turn out to be false. Although with many of them there will be people who continue in their beliefs even when it has been discredited. Flat Earth? The sun goes round the earth? and many more. Even when presented with the ‘alternative’ explanations some simply refuse to give in. (Witness the photoshopped pictures of a set of knuckles not long ago🤔😂)
Of course, part of the problem is that it is much easier to defend a falsehood when you refuse to accept any evidence that might contradict it – especially when your social group is invested in that falsehood.
Have to say that this is not exactly the way I expected his post to go. I was originally intending to focus on the fact that belief systems are built on whatever are accepted at truths at the time. Truths are reliant on the ‘technology’ we have to create our ideas. Worryingly AI has, of course, brought the ability to produce ‘evidence’ that is entirely fictional and we will have a hard time distinguishing what is real from what is made up. This is already the case, of course, as it doesn’t take long being online to come across images that are definitely not real.
As I have said elsewhere I think, this is also not new as those in the ‘entertainment’ business have creating believable alternate worlds a central pillar of their work. That has been true since well before Shakespeare’s time, novelists weave marvelous tales of places that don’t exist, film makers create images of what could simply be dreams. The technology moves forward and those creations become more and more indistinguishable from reality.
Hanging on to what is really real is not getting any easier and no matter how many “fact checkers” are put on the job it will always be very much an uphill battle with defeat almost certain.
This isn’t meant to be a downbeat post, its not a “we are all doomed” situation – but I do think that more people need to waken up to the dangers because only by understanding what is happening can you start to process it and ensure that you are not captured in “the weave”.