Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Fallacies of Fools

          There are no absolute truths in life. For every person that views a situation or idea, there is a ‘true’… for truth is nothing more than the individually held belief about the perception of the observer. It is the fallacy of the fool to believe that theirs is the only one truth, though it might be the only truth that matters to them.

          Many of the world’s conflicts revolve around the idea that there is one absolute truth… one religious group believing they hold the one and only truth… while another argues they hold the one and only truth. So many wars have been fought over this believe of 'one and only one truth.' So much of the suffering of humanity throughout time has been because of the fallacy of fools.

          Yet still this occurs within inner personal relationships as well, even when one or more of the observers was never part of the original situation. It can make humans appear like fools to look upon truths with absolutes in this manner when they are creating beliefs centered on second, third, or fourth hand information; especially when the information is coming from a source that is all too human and has their own ‘version’ of the truth they are selling.

          Sadly this happens all too often, especially in today's world. We are beings thriving on social media. Anyone can become a 'news reporter' on their sites. Some even have amazingly large number of followers who listen to their words as if they are the words of a god. These followers are only interested in the 'truth' this new prophet is speaking. They are not interested in any other truths or the fact that there are NO real truths, only perspective. I see friends and families torn apart on such sites because someone is challenging a truth they hold to be the 'one and only truth.'

          In short… the old adage ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ should include, don’t judge people you don’t know about situations you were not involved in. It makes you look the fool.

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