Every man be blind—

I’ve been thinking about our Truth vs. Subjectivitiy debate in class.  I think that the two need to be understood together, a synthesis rather than one or the other.  Maybe that means I’m for subjectivity, but I don’t think I am.  Rather, that truth is too big for people.  Like Emily Dickinson says in this poem:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind—

Which isn’t exactly what I mean.  But it’s close.

I don’t trust people who claim to know truth but are complacent, nor people who claim truth but are militant.  I guess I don’t trust many claims of truth.  Any claims of truth.  But listening to them, something begins to take shape that might be real. 

 Like, we are trusting Errol Morris in this movie.  We only see two hours of carefully selected and sometimes staged footage.  But we trust Morris’ portrayal of the case.  What if Adams told him he had buried treasure, and if Morris got him released, he could have half of it?  Morris might be clever enough a manipulator of people’s words to make that happen.  After all, we didn’t see the court documents or evidence.  Just testimony made by people years after the fact.  We don’t even see Harris’ confession on video. 

 But we do trust Morris.  Perhaps because we’re sheep and screen-dazed grazers of whatever is put before us.  Perhaps because we trust Dr. Campbell.   I don’t really know why. 

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.