d a gerrard quinn d1 05 Tuesdays 11 30 - 12 20 THE TRUTH IS FALSE The Holocaust never happened Now try to prove me wrong A middle aged man speaks to a young student who looks blankly at him his jaw hanging like a dead fish from a meat hook mumbling quietly too himself but everybody knows The object of this essay was to define the differences between truth and knowledge but I submit to you that this is impossible as they are one and the same What is purple is also black blue magenta and thousands of other colours the human race has yet to discover In fact what is believed to be the truth is really the result of billions of accepted norms in human society The argument of what is truth hinges on one s definition and acceptance of that truth as the strongest opposition to equating knowledge and reality is one s acceptance of the absolute rather than the relative truth For example we could take the case above There are multiple examples of what has come to be known as historical revisionism found world wide these occurrences are most prominent on the internet and those who support these alternate histories are growing in numbers Claims for everything from the fact that the Jews were actually very well treated at the so-called death camps (1) to allegations stating that gays were not persecuted by Hitler s regime they were actually especially prevalent in the ranks of German Nazis (2) One man goes into a room and announces to everyone sitting there that roses are not red yellow white or black but they are indeed blue Of the ten people sitting at the bar having a drink or putting their feet up on the coffee table there are six who simply ignore the man and dismiss him as an idiot There are three who contradict him and attempt to explain to him that roses are not blue Some use scientific proof and others even run to the store across the street and purchase a rose just to prove the man wrong However the fact remains that what that man sees before him is certainly a blue rose and not a red one The three people will soon give up and join the other six leaving the man alone because he is obviously a fool This leaves one woman sitting alone in the corner who will not join the others in their opinion of the man because of one frightful thing She believes him All right then so they re both idiots the truth is that roses are red and millions of Jews died in the years of WW2 under the 3rd Reich what does it matter what they think It matters because those people can change the world around us just as much as we can In a novel written by George Orwell a fictitious society existed dominated by a totalitarian force known as Big Brother Big Brother is the truth there is no other possibility if your beliefs contradict those of Big Brother you are insane Now Big Brother says that 2 + 2 = 5 But it s no Your voice trails off as a dagger is thrust against your throat Afraid for your life you whimper two plus two is five and in the next ten years you go around telling people that two and two is five secretly telling yourself that the answer is in fact four New text books are printed with the new math on it s pages This math is taught to your children and even when you don t think He s watching you try to educate your children and your own offspring don t believe you What s four daddy Your daughter asks Your truth has been lost only the new truth remains This example is somewhat extreme but just as valid as any other on a philosophical basis Human minds are malleable Do you see five lights No I see four Then you will die All right I see five (3) Take a moment to remember what you did last summer It was a sunny day and you met a beautiful girl with blonde hair But then you look at an old news report that says it was raining that day in fact it had rained much of that summer Well the news must be right you tell yourself and you go to bed with a smile on your face History just changed Moments ago you could distinctly remember that that day was in fact a sunny one you could even remember how the sun s rays reflected off the hair of the young girl you met but an old weather report changed your mind What really happened Does it really matter The result is all that matters and the result is that you believe it was raining I suppose this should be a warning of some sort The flexibility of the mind has been used as a tool of manipulation many times in human history Be warned as there are those who would use this against you What luck for rulers that men to do not think (4) d a gerrard quinn 841 WORDS Endnotes 1) realaudio clip from http www air-photo com ra summary html 2) The Lunatic Fringes http www qrd org qrd www rrr revision html 3) Star Trek The Next Generation Chain of Command 4) Adolph Hitler San Francisco Examiner Grab Bag