267. Truth is in the eye of the beholder

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Donald Trump has uttered over twenty thousand lies during his presidency, without losing his support. This is difficult to fathom, until you understand that his supporters believe those lies to be true. And therein lies the problem. Truth, such an apparently easy idea to understand, one of the first morality concepts we teach children, is, in fact, extremely complex. We often distinguish objective and subjective truth, but we do not know for sure whether the former exists. Even physical laws or fundamental mathematical relationships only exist, only appear, when they are observed, so they may not objectively exist. Trump supporters choose to believe Trump’s utterances, Trump’s ‘truths’, to our shock and horror. But, alas, even those of us who believe (note the word) that the scientific method, proof by experiment and verifiable facts are the only sources and tools of truth are, ultimately, choosing that belief. This is the realisation at the heart of nihilism, Trump’s most potent weapon 

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