These 4 realities penetrate the trickiest deceptions.
John Anthony, the Truth Monster
Today it’s hard to know what’s true.
- Ai creates scenes that never happened.
- Statisticians manipulate studies.
- Politicians see truth as something to manage.
- Media swings so far left or right it’s hard to know where to go.
Yet truth matters.
Faked science has terrorized people into isolation, shuttered businesses into bankruptcy, and forced families to watch from a distance while relatives needlessly die.
Today everything and especially medical care have been politicized.
When Trump initiated Operation Warp Speed, Democratic primary candidates ran on skepticism of a “Trump vaccine”. When Biden won, the same vaccine was sacrosanct.
No one asked the question that mattered…How safe is ‘safe’ and ‘95% effective’ at what?
Five years later it’s clear - neither party should have pushed the product.
The clues were always there, but we couldn’t see them.
Congress is the same; stuffed with politicians we hate but elect anyway. When we are truly unhappy, we vote for new politicians…who do the same.
Why, because too many can’t see through the noise to know the true causes of our dissatisfaction or what it really takes to change them.
From newscasts and medical studies, to social media and politicians, these 4 realities help you unravel the lies and deflections.
The 4 realities
#1 Your eyes and ears do lie.
What we see and hear cannot always distinguish context or truth.
Example:
March 25, 2020, CBS ran a segment with the on-screen banner reading "AMERICA'S EPICENTER — New York Now Accounts for More than Half of New U.S. Cases." The narrator spoke about overcrowded hospitals while footage rolled showing a packed hospital room with multiple patients and medical staff in full protective gear.
It turned out the footage was from a hospital in Bergamo Italy.
CBS apologized saying it was an editing error.
A week later they ran the same “error” claiming it was footage from a Pennsylvania hospital.
Practice:
- Apply these steps to issues that matter.
- Do a ‘gut’ check. “Does this sound right?”
- Corroborate the stories with alternative competitive outlets.
- Check the sources of what you see and hear.
#2 What you can't see does hurt you.
Information absence is why we can’t believe everything we see and hear. We can’t respond to events we don’t know exist. So, they are not part of our decision making. It’s like trying to duplicate someone else’s recipe with one of the ingredients left out.
Example:
Recently MEDPAGE Today ran an article highlighting a 1 year study of the cholesterol lowering drug evolocumab. The results suggested the product reduced cholesterol, but showed no clinical benefits.
In the same article, Shamir Mehta, MD, MSc, of McMaster University, criticized the study saying it was too small, too short, and…
“The relative risk reduction in the first year is usually smaller than in subsequent years”.
The article failed to mention Dr. Mehta is also a recipient of multiple research grants from the same company that makes evolocumab.
The article’s footnote says: “Mehta, (et al) disclosed no relationships with industry.”
Practice:
- Be curious. Not obnoxious. Not angry. Just curious. Newscasters create narratives by eliminating salient information. It has become wide practice.
- If the issue is important, assume there’s probably more to the story.
#3 The most biased person is the one who thinks he's not.
We are all biased. Bias is important. It acts like a mental filter helping us sort out the dizzying mass of information we confront every day.
Bias effects how we remember.
It might be an intimate moment with someone close, a fight you had, or a game-changing football play. Bias effects decisions like what you think happened during COVID, or the 2020 election.
Bias can get in the way of making significant decisions. What drug to take, who’s lying, who we really should vote for.
We need to understand our bias so we can set it aside and think clearly.
Practice: Take time for self-reflection. Ask yourself,
- Do I know what my own bias looks like? When I apply it?
- How important is it for me to hear only what I believe is true?
- Do I change my mind when the information shows I’m wrong?
- Am I genuinely curious about different opinions?
#4 Following the crowd will get you lost.
One reason we follow the crowd is to simplify our complex world. We adopt other people's decisions as a short cut to making our own.
Other times we join groups or tribes to feel safe and accepted. Ultimately we accept their beliefs.
Sometimes going along is OK. EX. “What’s everyone wearing to the reunion?”
Other times it’s not…
In the 1930’s and 40’s lobotomies were popular with over 50,000 performed by 1951. Many professionals rejected the practice but their voices were drowned out by the publicity of a Nobel Prize for the procedure and institutional momentum. The practice faded by the mid 50’s when antipsychotic drugs and therapy became the preferred treatments.
Doctors following the crowd was disastrous for many patients. (Sound familiar?)
Practice:
- Self-reflection - Be honest. Ask yourself if the ideas you believe are your own or others’ ideas you took on as your own.
- Critical thinking - Use the techniques in #1 and #2 to make your own choices rather than parrot another’s.
- Recapture your mind - Spend time alone with your thoughts. Avoid traps like doom scrolling that adds to stress and clouds judgment. When possible, get out in nature to reflect.
Awareness of these 4 realities will help you navigate the false and misleading narratives out there today. Your time is valuable, so choose the topics that are important to you.
The more you practice recognizing the 4 realities, they more they become unconscious skills and easy to draw on.
Truth Monster John Anthony is a national speaker, researcher, founder of the Sustainable Freedom Lab, and an expert on HUD and property rights infringements click here to subscribe to his must-read Substack. The Truth Monster is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support its work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
