Beware |  |
What an interesting proposition—the idea that some varieties of fact (another word for “truth”) need protecting. Physics, math, and English teachers do not caution students to avoid people who say electrons do not have a negative charge, 2 plus 2 do not equal 4, or from is not a preposition. What is it about The Whole Truth that makes it less robust than other varieties of fact?
Some take it so far as to caution against anything deemed “not uplifting.” Which is a shame. Take, for instance, literature that raises deep questions. Avoiding it leads to accepting depthless, black-and-white platitudes. No wonder that failure to think things through is stock-in-trade for truth sect adherents, and that so many of them have woefully limited knowledge, horizons, and thinking skills.
Facts need no protection from challenge. They emerge from challenges strengthened, refined, or replaced. Any of which means progress.
Some take it so far as to caution against anything deemed “not uplifting.” Which is a shame. Take, for instance, literature that raises deep questions. Avoiding it leads to accepting depthless, black-and-white platitudes. No wonder that failure to think things through is stock-in-trade for truth sect adherents, and that so many of them have woefully limited knowledge, horizons, and thinking skills.
Facts need no protection from challenge. They emerge from challenges strengthened, refined, or replaced. Any of which means progress.
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