In newspapers across the country there is column called “PolitiFact”. A statement, usually by an government official or politician is researched and rated on the ‘Truth Meter’ as false or true or, often is the case, somewhere in between like ‘half true.’

A while back I took a statement by the police chief that indicated the majority of victims of violent crime were criminals themselves and wrote the editor of “PoliticFact Wisconsin challenging this statement. Their conclusion was that it was ‘half true.’ It got me thinking how something could be ‘half true.’ I believe that the truth cannot be the non-truth or that something which is false be true.

Over a period of time I have discovered philosophical statements to back my belief that something cannot be true and false at the same time. Aristotle, the Greek philosophy from 384 - 322 B.C., made this statement about Truth in his writings on Metaphysics “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true”. In history many, including Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope John Paul made similar statements. See statements below.

I am not trying to make a philosophical statement about truth but believe using the statement “Half True” is contributing to the relativism of our times. I done some research and reported ‘facts’ only to people and only to have them say that is “my interpretation and they have their own. I admit that this is my “opinion of truth” but if there are no facts or ‘truth’ we eliminate dialog and struggle to find the truth. If everyone is entitled to their own understanding of facts and truth how do we advance in science. in cultural or morality?

This world of “half true” is particularly parlaying in moral statements. If there is no right or wrong and all is relative why not just do our own thing and forget about the other. There is no “common good.”

Also “half truths” are the basis for stigmatizing and labeling. If I have a mental illness that could be true but I should not be called “mentally ill” which implies I am my mental illness. People with cancer would not be called ‘cancerous’. When politicians falsely represent something or someone but use a bit of truth the statement is false not ‘half true.’ All labels and stigmas have some truth to them but they are still false or wrong.

When someone says victims of violent crimes are criminals themselves the statement is false, even though some victims are criminals. I find myself using labels like ‘white suburbanites’ to describe people. This is also a label or stigma, a half truth.

We struggle for Truth. Gandhi called his autobiography an “experiment with truth.” Seeking truth is a lifetime struggle but to deny that truth is true and we live in a world of ‘half truths’ is, in my opinion of the truth, contributing to the polarized society we find ourselves in. There is a lot of grey in the world but when it comes to truth it cannot be false or ‘half true’.

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained.” Gandhi

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” Martin Luther King Jr.

“Truth cannot contradict truth.” Pope John Paul II

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