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Is Truth Irrelevant?
Townhall.com ^ | January 12, 2021 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 01/12/2021 4:35:42 AM PST by Kaslin

It is amazing how many people seem to have discovered last Wednesday that riots are wrong -- when many of those same people apparently had not noticed that when riots went on, for weeks or even months, in various cities across the country last year.

For too many people, especially in the media, what is right and wrong, true or false, depends on who it helps or hurts politically. Too many media people who are supposed to be reporters act as if they are combatants in political wars.

Someone once said that, in a war, truth is the first casualty. That has certainly been so in the media -- and in much of academia as well.

One of the most grotesque distortions growing out of this carelessness with the facts has been a removal of Abraham Lincoln's name and statues from various places, on grounds that he saw black people only as property.

Such criticisms betray an incredible ignorance of history -- or else a complete disregard of truth.

As a lawyer, Abraham Lincoln knew that there was nothing in the Constitution which authorized him or any other president to free slaves. But he also knew that a military commander in wartime can legally seize the property of an enemy nation. Defining slaves as property gave President Lincoln the only legal authority he had to seize them during the Civil War. And once they were seized as property, he could then free them as human beings.

But, if the Emancipation Proclamation had based its action on defining the slaves as human beings, with a right to be free, the Supreme Court of that era would undoubtedly have declared it unconstitutional.

Millions of human beings would have remained slaves. Would ringing rhetoric be worth that price?

As for the claim that Lincoln did not regard black people as human, he invited Frederick Douglass to the White House!

Gross distortions of history, in order to get Abraham Lincoln's name removed from schools tells us a lot about what is wrong with American education today.

Many schools are closed because of the coronavirus and the teachers unions. And many schools in minority neighborhoods failed to teach children enough math and English, back when they were still open. So it is incredible that school authorities have time to spend on ideological crusades like removing names and statues from schools.

Unfortunately, too many American educational institutions -- from elementary schools to universities -- have become indoctrination centers. The riots that swept across the country last year are fruits of that indoctrination and the utter disregard for other people's rights that accompanied those riots.

At the heart of that indoctrination is a sense of grievance and victimhood when others have better outcomes -- which are automatically called "privileges" and never called "achievements," regardless of what the actual facts are.

Facts don't matter in such issues, any more than facts mattered when smearing Lincoln.

Any "under-representation" of any group in any endeavor can be taken as evidence or proof of discriminatory bias. But those who argue this way cannot show us any society -- anywhere in the world, or at any time during thousands of years of recorded history -- that had all groups represented proportionally in all endeavors.

In America's National Hockey League, for example, there are more players from Canada than there are players from the United States. There are also more players from Sweden than from California, even though California's population is nearly four times the population of Sweden.

Californians are more "under-represented" in the NHL than women are in Silicon Valley. But no one can claim that this is due to discriminatory bias by the NHL. It is far more obviously due to people growing up in cold climates being more likely to have ice-skating experience.

This is one of many factors that produce skewed statistics in many endeavors. Discriminatory bias is among those factors. But it has no monopoly.

Yet who cares about facts any more, in this age of indoctrination?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: abrahamlincoln
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1 posted on 01/12/2021 4:35:42 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: jazusamo

Thomas Sowell Ping


2 posted on 01/12/2021 4:37:36 AM PST by Kaslin (Joe Biden will never be my President, and neither will Kamala Harris)
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To: Kaslin

Of course it is. The Left has so fraked up what ‘truth’ or ‘facts’ are that essentially, one man’s truth is another man’s lie.


3 posted on 01/12/2021 4:37:58 AM PST by cranked
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To: Kaslin

‘To find out who rules over you, find out who you cannot criticize’-Voltaire


4 posted on 01/12/2021 4:49:16 AM PST by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell.)
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To: originalbuckeye

Based on another article I just read, it must be the retards.

Peach


5 posted on 01/12/2021 5:01:51 AM PST by CarolinaPeach
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To: Kaslin

The truth is being written by the victors....even if their victory was not legitimate....it is now written that it was legitimate.

FReepers and those who try to “investigate” what happened at the Capitol are fooling themselves. The narrative is written and set in stone.

FACTS and TRUTH are what the left wants it to be....Democrats, media and social media set the narrative now.


6 posted on 01/12/2021 5:03:10 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (The Democratic Party is communism)
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To: Kaslin

Empty words from another nevertrumper.


7 posted on 01/12/2021 5:09:49 AM PST by lewislynn ( The problem with your attitude is, too much coffee.)
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To: Kaslin
The problem is most people live in a media saturated hypperreality where what is real and what isn't has become blurred to the point where it is no longer easy to distinguish.

As the old movie quote goes, "Television is reality, and reality is less than Television."

8 posted on 01/12/2021 5:14:16 AM PST by Shadow44
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To: lewislynn

Says the idiot from Kalifornia


9 posted on 01/12/2021 5:15:29 AM PST by Kaslin (Joe Biden will never be my President, and neither will Kamala Harris)
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To: Kaslin
Yes, in this society "Truth" is irrelevant, particularly in the courts. I know this through first hand experience. The illusion of "Truth" is presented, but the system is set up where "Truth" is suppressed, difficult to bring forward and places tremendous risk on people who wish to bring it to light. For example in a simple, nothing case, the victims statements are clearly false and discredit through hard evidence. The "Truth" becomes irrelevant because the Prosecution will not accept accept reality and drop the charges. Instead, he forces the defendant to face serious charges unless a plea deal is accepted. Lawyers advice defendant to take a deal, he has too much to lose and jury's can't be trusted to make the right decision. Examples of "Truth" that was is ignored:

1) Situation tape recorded which contracted plaintiffs claims.
2) Call logs, contradicts plaintiffs claims
3) Physical evidence of plaintiff violating laws, no charges brought forward.
4) A witness and court employee makes false claims in court. Court does everything possible to prevent the release of transcripts depicting the false claims in order to protect its employee.

So in my opinion, "Truth" is irrelevant, its like Santa Clause, a story you tell your children so they behave. However, those in power use "Truth" to control you.

Wake up
10 posted on 01/12/2021 5:50:47 AM PST by RBW in PA
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To: cranked

As irrelevant as the Constitution.


11 posted on 01/12/2021 5:55:39 AM PST by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents|Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: Kaslin; abigail2; Amalie; American Quilter; arthurus; awelliott; Bahbah; bamahead; Battle Axe; ...
Thanks for the ping, Kas!

*PING*
Thomas Sowell


12 posted on 01/12/2021 8:05:04 AM PST by jazusamo (Have You Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running? )
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To: Kaslin
Burning down minority owned businesses and killing the employees is a peaceful protest.

Walking into a government building and sitting at an old, rich, white woman's desk is a dangerous riot.

Got Hypocrisy?

13 posted on 01/12/2021 8:14:54 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Dear Clare, The awkward time is almost over. Love, Normal Americans)
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To: jazusamo

You are very welcome


14 posted on 01/12/2021 8:22:32 AM PST by Kaslin (Joe Biden will never be my President, and neither will Kamala Harris)
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To: Kaslin

Well, if not irrelevant, apparently highly overrated. Thanks to the ever wise Mr. Sowell for this.


15 posted on 01/12/2021 9:54:22 AM PST by rktman (Destroy America from the inside? Check! WTH? Screwed, blued and tatooed.)
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To: Kaslin
...amazing how many people seem to have discovered last Wednesday that riots are wrong -- when many of those same people apparently had not noticed that when riots went on, for weeks or even months, in various cities across the country last year. For too many people, especially in the media, what is right and wrong, true or false, depends on who it helps or hurts politically.

When the only concept of right and wrong is whose ox is being gored... there's no possibility of justice...or decency.

A pox on our corrupt press...

16 posted on 01/12/2021 10:14:15 AM PST by GOPJ (Seventy-three million citizens thought the election was rigged - enough to start a new party.)
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To: Kaslin
Dr. Sowell is a national treasure. In another of his books, he points out how blacks in segregated schools in the DC area outperformed their white counterparts despite poor funding, lower teacher salaries and hand-me-down texts. This was in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

It wasn't because they were smarter, it is because education was important to them at the time.

17 posted on 01/12/2021 12:02:24 PM PST by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: Kaslin

Facts do not change. Those who would deny them, do so out of hatred, for the reality they are ultimately governed by, is not their friend.

But that really illuminates the situation we find ourselves in. We are told that Up is Down, and that the sky is Pink. Now, truth is not a “thing”, it is an obstacle to indoctrination and suppression of popular political thought.

You won’t need to struggle with logic and evidence, all your thinking will be done for you! So, what point will it be to point out the fact... that all you will ever hear from the Chinese Biden regime... are lies.

Thomas Sowell has clearly pointed out the new reality, and that is to get along, you must swallow absolute lies, with a smile! I will never be able to do that. Children are the victims and we must save them from the darkness. Never send your children to Public School, or you will lose them forever.


18 posted on 01/12/2021 1:56:43 PM PST by Richard Axtell (So, everything has gone to hell, what did I tell ya?)
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To: Kaslin

Another great Sowell read!


19 posted on 01/12/2021 2:54:14 PM PST by BrandtMichaels
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To: cranked

“The Left has so fraked up what ‘truth’ or ‘facts’ are that essentially, one man’s truth is another man’s lie.”

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3920426/posts


20 posted on 01/12/2021 7:10:15 PM PST by dsc (Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men.)
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