I Can't Handle the 'Truth'

Face to face I never feel powerless
but online all this tough talk is really disguised cowardice
But let's face it, no written word is hurtin' me
the only thing I'm certain of is I'm sick of all the certainty...

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked to the laughter of the gods. - Albert Einstein

Claiming to know the truth is a slippery slope but still so many people skate down that mountain like Shaun White (editor's note: Shaun White is a ginger snowboarder who goes by the nickname 'The Flying Tomato' and is the only name I could come up with for skiing/snowboarding. Very little research is done for these blogs). And the internet is pretty much the most chaotic arena in which to brandish your gladiator sword of truth. The audience is primarily unregulated, abnormally hostile and confrontational due to anonymity and/or distance and nothing angers the unwashed masses more than a different opinion. And, even more importantly, so many of them are absolutely CERTAIN that they know the truth and your opinion is not only incorrect, but worthy of having your intelligence, hygiene, sexuality and mother's promiscuity called into question. I can't help but wonder how that unwavering certainty serves them in the real world.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth and, and have begun striving for ourselves. - Buddha

I inwardly cringe sometimes when I see certain topics brought up in a forum because I can sense with Charles Xavier like mind-reading skills what responses will inevitably pop up. Whether it's something as (relatively) unimportant as Lebron James, a Tosh.0 comedy sketch or whether bacon is truly the greatest food on earth, or more inflammatory topics such as religion, politics and whether bacon is truly the greatest food on earth, people get disturbingly angry and confrontational at anything resembling a different opinion. It's not the polarizing views that bother me, it's the hostility that reminds me that if it weren't for rules and consequences a good number of our 'civilized' population would be far from civilized. Bring some of these people in a room together and they'd be minutes away from beating their chests and flinging feces. Their anger has nothing to do with truth, but rather with ego. Claiming a different truth than what I believe is a direct question of who and what I am...and now I must fling my feces at you.

All things are subject to interpretation, whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth. - Friedrich Nietzsche

My biggest issue with the tsunami of self-righteousness and assuredness that has flooded our country is the sheer audacity of people with a median IQ approximately that of a dolphin to claim to know the truth. And they do so with impunity. They don't have questions, they just have answers. They only seek out facts that support their already predetermined views. They can't see both sides of the coin if you flip it in front of their face. I criticize myself about how I see the world sometimes. I question everything and take very little at face value. There's usually at least 3 sides to every story and you can argue that either all or none of them are the truth, it's a matter of perception and interpretation. It can also be a matter of culture, geographical location, ethnicity, religious beliefs (or lack thereof), etc. As a result I try to be open minded and in all honesty, maybe even too much so. Until someone's actions hurt others I tend to with withhold judgement and maybe sometimes I could take a stand more. But I'm not always so certain, I'm not always so easily defined and my ego doesn't require that I be right. So I'm ok with different opinions as long as you allow me to have mine. I'm easy going that way. And that's MY truth.

I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want. - Muhammad Ali

Damn straight.