I am drawn to true crime, who-done-it, criminal profiling stories. Just call me Detective Debby. As crimes are solved and the case goes to trial, the same line is repeated, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” After umpteen gillion shows, it occurred to me recently how hard it is for people to tell what the truth really is.
At first “nothing but the truth” was a command most likely meant for courtrooms. But in today’s world it applies to everything we say or write down. Everyone of our communications should be true, not false. Psychologists have observed over the last decade that we lie in various ways. Some of our lies seem relatively harmless, or even -polite: “Yes, I’m working on that project; it’ll be done soon,” or “That outfit looks nice on you.” Or how about “It’s low-fat” (but high in sugar).
So many times we are told something by someone to find out later that their “truth” was either totally false or a halftruth. As a former analyst, I learned how crucial it is to know what your source is for the information you receive. One newspaper or social media outlet can say things one way, and someone else try to say the same thing only with a different slant. That’s the problem we are facing with the “news” today. So many sources, so little we really know about them. It’s as if they want to prove they are “right” instead of doing/ saying what is “right” with the real truth.
