"What is Truth?"
Reflections on Richard Rorty in 21st Century America
The scene above (earmuffs for the kiddos) comes from one of my all-time favorite series, Succession. Half dark comedy and half Shakespearean tragedy, the show tells a fictional story of media-mogul Logan Roy who must decide the future of his empire in the face of his declining health. The show not-so-subtly mirrors Rupert Murdock - owner of Fox News, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal - whose impact on our current moment is impossible to overstate. What the scene portrays is a master manipulator of the “truth” in society interacting with his own children. In the event salty language offends or you lack the time, I’ll say the payoff comes between 3:04-3:25. Logan’s daughter, Shiv, tells her father, “… just because you say it doesn’t make it true. Everyone just agrees you and believes you and then it becomes true, and then you can turn around and say, ‘Oh, you see, I was right.’ But that is not how it is. You’re a human gaslight.” While the term ‘gaslight’ may be overused (Merrian-Webster’s 2022 word of the year), there’s a reason why it feels so appropriate these days. Much more than portraying a dysfunctional relationship, the scene exposes how the manipulation of truth takes place. In God-like fashion, the one who controls the media consumed can simply speak something and it comes into existence.
“What is truth?” This is the question Pontius Pilate posed to Jesus before handing him over for crucifixion. Embedded in that question is a scoff at the very notion that such a thing exists. Twenty centuries later, American philosopher Richard Rorty echoed Pilate's sentiment, offering an answer: “The truth is what your contemporaries let you get away with saying.” In essence, he argued there is no “capital T” truth, only what people deem acceptable at a given moment in a particular place. In the circles where I spent much of my life, Rorty’s definition was presented as a dystopian nightmare we were to spend our lives resisting. The quote encapsulated the postmodern age, where objective truth was no longer accepted, desired, or even attainable. The irony, of course, is that those who instilled this fear of relativism in me have become the most susceptible to it in 21st-century America (see Murdock’s Fox News) … but I digress.
Watching the Joint Session of Congress a few weeks ago, Rorty’s quote came to mind. For over an hour and a half, our nation was subjected to a lunatic spewing fabrications at a pep rally for a political party drunk with power (literally so, in the case of Mike Johnson’s chief of staff). Back in 2015, Senator Ted Cruz argued that Republicans should reject Trump because “he lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.” But fast-forward ten years and this liability has become a strength. By repeatedly reciting falsehoods, Trump has created an alternate reality believed by many, which has become the “real” reality for the Republican party, our nation, and the world. While fact-checkers had plenty to do given the barrage of blatant lies during the speech, their role no longer serves a purpose, as his supporters no longer care. If truth is simply what we let someone get away with, then it's Trump’s world, and we're letting him get away with murder.
Yet, despite the rosy picture painted in the halls of Congress, stubborn facts persist. Throughout the rambling speech, elected Republicans adopted a posture that, to borrow from The Lego Movie, suggested “everything is awesome.” Meanwhile, these same Republicans have been advised not to hold town halls with their own conservative constituents. Supposedly, many of these voters supported Trump for his economic policies. However, the economy doesn’t respond well to trade wars with allies then waffling on their implementation, threats of deportation to a large portion of the workforce, and global anxiety concerning turning Gaza into a resort, blowing up 80-year alliances to hand Ukraine to Russia, and threats of invading Canada, Greenland, and Panama. The stock market, consumer confidence index, the price of eggs, unemployment numbers, etc., are indifferent to political spin, and eventually, Americans will feel the personal impact of these figures. At some point, facts will catch up the fabricated “truth.”
Regarding Rorty’s quote, I find a glimmer of hope in the work of James K.A. Smith. In his effort to understand Rorty’s meaning, Smith wrote, “… this doesn’t mean we are thereby free to just make stuff up … your peers aren’t going to let you get away with saying anything.” In other words, what people claim as “true” must still correspond with experienced reality. What’s needed though are individuals willing to call out falsehoods. Enter Rep. Al Green from Texas (not to be confused with pastor/singer Al Green, also a hero). In a “you are that man” moment, Green stood up with his cane and called Trump a liar to his face. Of course, those on the right chanted back with the vitriol of segregationists confronting a black girl at an integrated school. Let them have their fun … and hopefully avoid a DUI in the process. Eventually, these scoffers will face their constituents. It won’t be pretty. Regardless of one’s view on “truth,” even for a relativist like Richard Rorty, facts matter. Hopefully, they will matter more to Americans in 2025. Until then, God bless Al Green. May his tribe increase.