Facts
A claim about reality that may be true or false.
Like evidence, it is not proof of anything.
Frequently employed to make absolute claims, which are always false except for two.
Something we believe to be factually true today may be factually false tomorrow; each of us experiences this thousands of times throughout our lives. Despite this, we still hold steadfast that the things we believe today are true because we claim to know that they are true.
Behaving as thought certain facts are true is generally enough to make it through life if we live in a system that is stable enough to manage a plurality of thoughts and actions. This means that, for the most part, our beliefs do not need to be accurate with any precision, they just need to approximate something real in a general sense over time. When our beliefs are sufficiently estranged from reality, we will generally be punished for this.
A pluralist system is often able to soften this blow because diversity and variance are commonplace. It is in systems where certain facts are considered unacceptable that we are far more frequently punished for the imprecision of our beliefs. There is a huge difference between deviations from orthodoxy and complete ignorance of reality. However, if reality can be prescribed in a practical sense through the moderation of public discourse, then even minor deviations shall be categorized as HERESY.
Because facts may be true or false, and because they suffer untimely demises on an ongoing basis, a system that punishes its citizens for any position they hold informed by their own set of beliefs has lost its way. Far too frequently are we encouraged to take out our pitchforks.
Let reality punish us for our ignorance, we do not need to punish one another.
We need to bring our own facts, and see if a conversation can take place.
What if one more conversation is all we needed to change our minds?
Posted: 26 Mar 2023
