The Folly of Half-Truths

By

Bill Cottringer

“A half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.” ~J. I. Packer.

 Half-truth: “A statement that is only partly true; especially one that deliberately mixes truth and falsehood, often trying to pass it off as an absolute truth.”

     Getting to the whole truth about anything, large or small, is not a quick or easy common achievement, despite being an honorable, worthy goal of any thinking person. Actually, there is a good reason for such common sense not being so common—the brain is not really hard-wired to painfully and diligently seek out complete truths. Rather, it just works quickly and efficiently to reach a homeostatic resting spot, with just enough facts that look and sound good enough, especially when time is short, which it usually is. And unfortunately today, when there is really no good justification for not seeking knowledge about the whole truth, over-embracing half-truths is the most over-used way to live and die for a belief system. This is sad, given what is at stake.

     Half-truths are easy to believe, because like half a brick, they are easier to carry and besides they can be thrown further. Besides that people usually just accept it, not having the time to question it or check it out further. Consider the extent of credibility automatically assigned to these types of half-truths and the damage they can ravage:

1. False Dichotomies. These are either-or exclusive propositions such as God rules the universe vs. physics does, or my reality is real and yours’ is a hallucination. Critical thinking about false dichotomies often ends with seeing the two different things as just different sides to the same coin. Unfortunately the human mind has a bad habit of splitting the whole universe into this or that, yes or no, up or down and in or out opposites and no creative solutions can emerge without reconciling the opposites, which is probably the hardest thing in the world for us to do. After all, major paradigm shifts don’t come very often and when they do, like nuclear energy or digital time, the entire landscape changes.

2. Relative Perspectives. This type of half-truth is the epitome of believing the truth of something, mainly because of the time and place in which you are seeing it. The old story of four blind men touching various parts of an elephant and then reporting what they thought to be true about their small portion of the big picture comes to mind. And we all know how the truth of the world has gone from falling off the edges, to being round and now “flat” Or more readily, how your own beliefs about what you are convinced is true, have evolved in just a year’s time. This type of half-truth is easy to see past by simply changing viewpoints and seeing the much different view you now have.

3. Part Truths. Maybe this should be called part lies. At any rate, many drunk drivers respond the same way to the police officers question, have you been drinking? Answer: “Well, maybe I have has just two beers” (when they have polished off a whole bottle of tequila or two six-packs. The same may be true to answering the question of how many affairs have you carried on behind my back? Answer: “None, because you knew about all six.” But then again, by asking such questions you already have your answers to, what can you expect. Mother to young child standing at the top of the staircase after misbehaving: “Do you want a spanking for breaking your Dad’s favorite beer mug?” Response: “Oh, let me see, hmm, yes, I’ll take a couple!”

4. Memes. Here the truth of any proposition depends on the assumptions you make in considering it. In the proposition that God created the universe, there at least two assumptions you make—first, that God existed before the universe existed to be able to create it in the first place, and two, the universe was created and not always in existence, with or without a God. Memes are for thinking people who don’t question sacred assumptions, because after all, everything you can think to be true involves an unspoken assumption. But then again, assumptions are the termites of any foundation supporting truth.

5. Aphorisms. This is probably the most popularized way to spread half-truths with half-lies. When we don’t question such half-truths we miss the other more important half, which more often than not, changes the big picture drastically. Consider how the following aphorisms have done more harm than good: Everything happens for a reason; you only live once; the early bird gets the first worm; there is no truth only perception; what starts out bad always ends bad; attitude is everything; in one ear, out the other; love the sinner, hate the sin; God helps those who help themselves, and so on. Take the other half of the early bird aphorism for example. The first worm gets eaten!

6. Technicalities. Ex-president Bill Clinton invented this unique way of splitting hairs on technicalities, in his case, between objective reality and the abstract legal rendition of it. He made his immoral behavior become legal when he specifically denied having had “sexual intercourse” with Monica Lewinski in the White House. It was all the other sexual stuff he did that represented his dreadful “sins” which everybody objected to, and so his lies were like the baby who got thrown out with the dirty bath water. And when you do this live in front of an Oprah Winfrey audience, you are home free of all wrongdoing. But we are talking about the original spin doctor.

     So, in pursuit of the whole truth and trying to focus on nothing but the truth and leaving all else behind, stop for a moment and consider the relationship between the degree of truth you see and believe in, and the amount of success you enjoy. My assumed perspective is this: The more you get past a half truth and move closer to the whole truth, the more success your will enjoy, at least in the long run. Hopefully this is more of a whole truth than just another half-truth spun as such, but I am sure readers will let me know!

“A half-truth is usually less than half of that.” ~Bernard Williams.