Friday, October 3, 2025

The truth is we need the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but we can’t handle it.

This wasn’t the blogpost I initially thought I was going to write.

I began work on a blogpost talking about how everyone wanted censorship in late July.  I started talking about Steven Colbert’s “Late Show” cancellation by CBS. I talked about the rumors that the cancellation of “The Late Show” was part of a larger agreement made by CBS’s parent company Paramount to silence President Donald Trump’s #1 late night critic(With Trump stating on Truth Social other late night critics like Jimmy Kimmel were next to go)[i] so they could have the Trump administration approve a merger between Paramount and Skydance Media owned by Trump supporter David Ellison[ii] [iii].   I mentioned how every president up until Donald Trump knew as part of their oath of office, they had to protect some late-night comedian’s 1st amendment right to tear them apart for their failings and foibles with savage laugher.    I cited YouTuber Captain Midnight’s video [iv] that explained the death of late-night TV with Midnight calling most broadcast TV late night talk shows “Wildly overpriced web content”  hence CBS unable to justify the costs of producing even the #1 late night talk show even in a hypothetical Kamala Harris presidency.[v]   I was combing my way through John McWhorton’s Woke Racism[vi] to explain how the fanatical cancel culture left wing puritanical attacks on anyone who did not adhere to their specific DEI pseudo religious philosophy led to a Newtonian law of karma of an equal and now exaggerated anti-woke reaction on the extreme right that is threatening everyone’s liberty not just those who are “woke”.    

And then I learned of the assassination of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk.[vii]

The first time I heard about Kirk was when I saw his name referenced on a South Park episode where Cartman was up for a Charlie Kirk award for “Young Master Debaters”. [viii]  The name didn’t mean anything to me, and I didn’t realize it was specifically Kirk’s podcasting style Matt Stone and Trey Parker were skewering in that episode.  I only realized who Charlie Kirk was a couple weeks later when my friend posted of his death on her Facebook page citing what Kirk’s loss meant to her kids. 

Upon hearing about Charlie Kirk’s death, I quickly dove into the Charlie Kirk YouTube channel.  I wish I had known and listened to him before he was tragically killed.    I know we share a loving heart-breaking relationship with the Chicago Bears.[ix]   I too am pro-life, and I share his argument that life needs to be protected from the moment of conception because that’s when science says life begins.[x]  Of course, I would also argue that it’s necessary per the Declaration of Independence to have the government set up to protect life at all its stages since it’s considered an inalienable right.  This means that I would make sure that there are free prenatal care obstetrician visits and then extend that free healthcare to all babies up until their 3rd year of life.  I would give free pre-natal vitamins to all pregnant mothers living in the US and make sure babies have free formula for six months.  I would also like to see paid maternity and paternity leave for the mother and father so they can take care of their newborn baby.  I believe there should be free quality daycare for all moms who in this economy need to work to provide the material needs for said babies.   I would also limit pollution since it has a negative effect on babies.  I would make sure the government paid for free shots for all babies and insist upon giving those shots to prevent measles, mumps, rubella, etc. that used to kill babies before they were 2 years old.[xi]    Unfortunately, I doubt President Trump and his billionaire buddies want to cough up a significant part of their cash flow in more taxes because they are reluctant to put their money where their pro-life mouths are. [xii] 

For the official record there were plenty of things Charlie Kirk and I disagreed with.  I was, as one click-bait-y title stated offended [xiii] when Kirk talked about how women should give up their careers to be stay at home moms and subject themselves to their husbands.  I don’t agree (well, me and Republican presidential icon Ronald Regan)[xiv]  with his logic that Trump’s tariff plans[xv] will bring back good paying US manufacturing jobs[xvi] even though I agree with Kirk’s statement of “You do not have a nation, you do not have a country, you do not have a robust social contract or social compact if you do not have a robust middle class.”[xvii]    I wondered if Charlie Kirk would be OK with the Obama administration revoking the student visa of Marin Yip, AKA the Chinese foreign student from the “God is not Dead”[xviii] movie if, after finding Jesus, Martin Yip decided to put his faith into action by actively protesting against legalizing same sex marriage since Kirk argued it OK for the Trump administration to revoke the visa of Mahmoud Khalil[xix] after he protested against Israel’s war with Gaza because Khalil was “Just a visitor and not a US citizen.”  [xx] 

 One Facebook post I read said Charlie Kirk’s style of debating college youths was akin to Mike Tyson deciding to pick a bar fight with a potbellied out of shape middle aged man.  I didn’t see it that way.  I saw that Kirk genuinely cared about debate with those college kids and sometimes would help them make better arguments, even if he disagreed with their reasoning. [xxi]    I saw he sat down to talk with Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom[xxii] and liberal icon Bill Maher[xxiii] where both men respectfully treated Kirk with curiosity and friendly debate and vice versa from Kirk.    This is the way things SHOULD be in the United States.   Our founding fathers had different opinions, but they believed through the back and forth of debate we could come to a consensus to what is the greater good of the United States.   Maybe because other than 6.9 million Native Americans[xxiv]  , everyone else came from somewhere else and had to form a sense of community[xxv] to survive because they were far away from their family ties with the principles of democracy that were present since the pilgrims landed on Plymouth rock.[xxvi]       

Since Kirk’s death I have seen numerous tribute and commentary videos about Charlie Kirk’s impact on America and the world.[xxvii]   There were, however, a few that surprised me.  One video, which seemed like a non sequitur for a channel devoted to helping those find jobs after they’ve been laid off like myself, featured someone posting about how they lost their Microsoft job after they posted on their personal social media accounts how happy they were that Charlie Kirk was dead?[xxviii]  And this former Microsoft employee wasn’t alone at the rejoicing over Kirk’s death. [xxix] I understand why someone could hate a man who felt the Civil Rights act of 1964 was a mistake[xxx] and just blatantly felt that anyone who comes into the United States illegally should be deported automatically because they broke the rules like Kirk espoused. [xxxi]   Yet part of the reason for the passage of that 1964 Civil Rights act was America witnessing the non-violent peaceful protests of thousands of African Americans [xxxii]against a clearly brutally racist southern police force and the innate nature of every one of the good moral people in the US that said, “That’s not fair/that’s not right”.   Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., perhaps in the back of his mind knew a fable I heard from somewhere to get someone to change. 

The fable goes like this.   The sun and the wind made a bet with each other to see which one of them could get a man to remove his coat.   The wind went 1st and the harder and fiercer the wind blew against the man the tighter the man clung onto his coat.  Finally, when the wind gave up the sun merely shone down its gentle warming rays. At that point the man felt warm enough and removed his coat.  In some ways, when we come at our opponents with a “Them” vs. “US” mentality,[xxxiii] we do not have dialogue. We aren’t able to work on the solutions we need to because we are so defensive of our position, we aren’t open to another perspective that may be more accurate than our own.   I think this is because social media companies have managed to hack our brains[xxxiv] to make us addicted to social media content with rage bait[xxxv] videos amping up our hostilities towards someone else.   It’s no wonder the generation that grew up with social media, Gen Z, are reporting higher rates of depression and anxiety[xxxvi] and showing some of the same behaviors as drug addicts[xxxvii] even though they are healthier and do less drugs and alcohol overall.[xxxviii]    Facebook’s algorithms knows I’m more likely to listen to Inequity Media liberal spokesperson Robert Reich[xxxix]   than I am to conservative spokesperson Ben Shapiro[xl] because I AGREE with Robert Reich more often than I do Ben Shapiro.  That doesn’t mean that Shapiro logic that apprenticeships may offer a cheaper and better value than college is invalid[xli]  because he also railed against Harvard[xlii] and supported Trump’s withdrawal of funding from the venerable 400-year institution[xliii] .    

To complicate matters, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler news website founder Maria Ressa[xliv]   discussed with John Stewart on “The Daily Show”[xlv] the parallels between Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte[xlvi] attempts to silence her and her reports of corruption during the Duterte presidency though imprisonment and President’s Trump’s attack on free speech.  Ressa asked Stewart “How can you have rule of law if you don’t have facts?”  and mentioned the Cambridge Analytica scandal where then company chief executive Alexander Nix told reporters “It sounds a dreadful thing to say, but these are things that don’t necessarily need to be true as long as they’re believed.”[xlvii] With Ressa going on to cite a 2018 MIT study that showed how humans are more likely to spread social media lies than the truth.[xlviii]     I do not like President Trump’s attacks on established news organizations like PBS, NPR, CBS[xlix], ABC[l], The Wall Street Journal[li], the New York Times[lii] with spurious lawsuits and defunding in the case of NPR and PBS, but it is understandable why the “Fake Media” label may be sticking when the media gives us what we want to hear instead of the painful truth.[liii].  

Father Mike Schmidt of “The Bible in a Year” podcast fame [liv] once summed up the truth as “That which is”.[lv]  He did this as part of a video explaining subjective truth verses the actual truth. Fr. Schmidt used the example of Domino’s pizza versus Papa John’s pizza being the better pizza to illustrate the concept of subjective truth because the better of the two pizzas are dependent upon the taste buds of those who consume them. Of course, I’m a Chicagoan who believes both Domino’s and Papa John’s pizzas are complete crap compared to Lou Malnoti’s[lvi] or Giordanos[lvii] deep dish with Home Run Inn [lviii] or Pope Leo XIV favorite Aurelio’s[lix] having great thin crust tavern style pizza options if your doctor has put you on a diet.  What then determines truth of subjective truth, per Fr. Schmidt in that video, is either mob rule, might makes right, or you do you philosophy and who cares about which pizza is better anyway.  Objective truth is a Papa John’s large original crust cheese pizza will cost me $18.99[lx]   whereas a large Domino’s cheese crust pizza will cost me $15.99[lxi] and those numbers can be verified through their websites for zip code 60440 plus sales tax of course.  Fr. Schmidt goes on to state that objective statements are “true or false whether I know it, like it or believe it.”  Trust me, I subjectively do not like the fact, and I am struggling to believe a basic boring large corporate chain cheese pizza costs between $16-$21.  However, that is indeed the truth I must deal with if I want to order a basic boring large corporate cheese pizza that would be hot and ready because I’m too lazy to cook dinner for myself and my husband.   

Steven Colbert coined the term Truthiness[lxii] [lxiii]  back in 2005. In 2005 then President George W Bush used faulty intelligence to justify invading Iraq[lxiv] .  There was also an error uncovered by bloggers in 2004 in which CBS news didn’t do proper checking to verify a story that George W Bush failed to report for a physical while on active duty in the Air National Guard in 1972[lxv] because CBS wanted to believe President Bush shirked his military duties.    Both CBS’s Dan Rather and perhaps President Bush went more with their gut feelings of what they felt was the truth instead of the actual truth because that is what they wanted to believe.  It’s one thing to be subjective about which pizza tastes the best.  It’s another to base a decision that costs the US $728 billion dollars, 4,492 US servicemembers lives and the lives of 200,000 Iraqi civilians[lxvi] on what you think is true or be so blinded by left wing ideas you end up damaging your ability to proclaim the truth for other stories.[lxvii]    The April 3rd, 2017, Time Magazine[lxviii]cover featured a take on another infamous cover from April 8th, 1966, [lxix]  the “Is God Dead?” story only Time was asking in the wake of the 1st  Trump Administration if truth was dead instead.  Then Time editor Nancy Gibbs pondered “I suspect that about as many would say they believe in Truth, and yet we find ourselves having an intense debate over its role and power in the face of (President Trump) who treats it like a toy. “[lxx]   This was in the wake of the 2016 Russian Interference investigation lead by then FBI director James Comey[lxxi] with possible links to the Trump presidential campaign.  There was also the fact Trump bragged about a mega vast number of people attended his January 20th, 2017, inauguration with no way to confirm the data[lxxii] and denied the US birthright citizenship of his predecessor Barack Obama[lxxiii].    The conservative Federalist wondered “The primary question here is not ‘Is Truth Dead?’ but why does the question only arise when someone challenges the elite’s particular control of it? “ [lxxiv] no doubt because they felt the media elite while not so much promoting “fake news” as Trump often called it, but only a liberal view of it.   Funny thing about that “Is God Dead” cover story from Time in 1966.  In 1966 Time was questioning even back then on how religion could reach the masses in an ever-increasing distractingly busy secular world[lxxv]     Five years later Time Magazine featured a psychodelia Jesus on their June 21st, 1971[lxxvi]  cover proclaiming a “Jesus Revolution” where Time magazine writer Richard Ostling[lxxvii] said “ In 1966 Beatle John Lennon casually remarked that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ; now the Beatles are shattered, and George Harrison is singing My Sweet Lord”[lxxviii].  I think once the boomer generation lost faith in the ideals from the 1960’s they needed something that was true for all time to cling onto.    And let’s face it-Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the light[lxxix]” so part of me knows that I or someone else should have pulled Charlie Kirk aside to remind him of Mathew 25:35[lxxx]  because that verse is also part of the Gospel Truth anyone who calls himself, herself, or themselves a Christian needs to adhere to.    

Charlie Kirk named his PAC “Turning Point USA”.   We are indeed at a turning point one might argue, on the precipice of civil war.  Or we could proceed toward a better future if we instigate a Truth Revolution to accept the truth no matter how others may try and muddy or distort it for their own purposes. 

The first thing we need to do to start The Truth Revolution is we must acknowledge there is such a thing as THE TRUTH.  Every pre-school math teacher on up will flunk a kid who believes 2+2 = anything except the correct answer of 4.[lxxxi]   Truth is like the law of gravity,[lxxxii] that should ground everything else we believe in life and can be verified by indisputable facts.  Even when we do something that defies the law of gravity, like flying, we are still using the laws of aerodynamics[lxxxiii] to achieve what man long thought impossible except for birds and bees in 1903.   Global warming is undeniable now and we need to work on how to compensate for it and ways to abate it rather than get down into the muck of how the planet began to warm in the 1st place or believing that a week of 80+ degrees for the 1st week of October in Chicago is an oddity that is now occurring regularly. [lxxxiv][lxxxv]    Over 65K Palestinians have died in the most recent war with Israel[lxxxvi] with 90% displaced and that is a humanitarian crisis that needs to be addressed without the political rhetoric surrounding it!   Speaking of bees, they are still an endangered species and could create food shortages if their extinction is not addressed.[lxxxvii]  The truth is we probably need time away from the internet world for our mental health and find ways of navigating the real world without distraction.  We cannot tackle these issues and other complex issues without us working together in a spirit and being guided by the truth.

The second thing we need to do to start The Truth Revolution is to make sure we do call out lies and present verifiable facts not just our own “alternative facts”.   The FCC didn’t have the legal authority to pull a bunch of ABC affiliate’s broadcasting licenses[lxxxviii] just because FCC chairman Brendan Carr [lxxxix]  was sickened by Kimmel’s comments when Kimmel erroneously implied Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer Tyler Robinson[xc] was part of the MAGA movement[xci] [xcii].     The evidence that Tylenol causes autism is weak at best. [xciii]Trump’s tariffs could pay for the cuts to the budget made by the big, beautiful bill, but [xciv] since tariffs are ultimately paid by the consumer tariffs are not a suitable replacement for tax cuts.     Fathers being present and active in their children’s lives do lead them to become better adults, lead to less behavioral problems[xcv] and improve the lives of low-income children[xcvi] . That is something that needs to be addressed to help deal with the #1 cause of gun violence-Poverty.[xcvii]     The US has a $1.7 trillion dollar deficit that needs to be paid back, and maybe budget cuts are necessary to pay down the debt.[xcviii]    Things like affordable housing and equal education for impoverished children are what most liberal/democratic minded people are willing to say publicly, but they put in restrictive zoning laws to prevent apartment complexes from being built to provide those affordable housing units and people in the rich suburbs may not like the fact some of their property taxes may need to go to fund kids in poor inner-city schools to ensure those kids are able to get an equal education with their own. [xcix]  

The third thing we need to do to start The Truth Revolution is to rely on and support those who uphold The Truth especially when that truth is a threat to the powers that be.  If you can afford to choose to pay for subscriptions to reputable newspapers like The Wall Street Journal or my personal favorite The Atlantic magazine.    Use websites like https://apnews.com/ or https://www.reuters.com/ to get your news from since these are the two websites other news agencies use to bolster their own coverage.     Share those newsworthy articles on your own social media feeds and make sure you find ways to support your local newspapers that have been dying for some time.   Here’s a link on how you can do more to ensure that more journalists are able to do their jobs to report the truth. Journalism Advocacy: 5 Ways to Support Journalists .   Moreover, make sure you listen to those experts who have experience in whatever the subject may be and check their credentials to ensure they are experts. 

The fourth thing we need to do for The Truth Revolution is to be willing to accept the truth may change from time to time once new verifiable facts are presented.   Doctors in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s advocated smoking specific brands of cigarettes before later research showed cigarette smoking caused lung cancer and heart disease.[c]    The CDC at first denied masks were necessary to stop the Covid 19 pandemic only to realize they were wrong when the realized asymptomatic people could transmit the virus without knowing they had it.[ci]    In the 80’s and 90’s scientists believed a diet high in fat lead to heart disease.   Now that is changing.[cii]     As long as those new facts can be verified, we must humbly admit that a mistake was made, and mistakes happen because we are all human and from time to time we get things wrong. 

Ultimately, once we acknowledge there is such a thing as THE TRUTH, then we must acknowledge the universal truth about the golden rule, we must treat others the way we would want to be treated.   Everyone wants to be respected.  Everyone wants to be treated with kindness.  Everyone wants mercy and forgiveness if they have done something wrong.   Every one of us wants to be loved by someone.  Everyone who is reading this is a human being made in the image and likeness of God even if you don’t believe or accept it, even when viewing yourself sometimes.   Every one of us needs to be redeemed in some way and it is always better to try and put ourselves into someone else’s shoes before we make some type of rash judgmental tweet or social media comment.    Any maybe that takes some type of grace that can only come from God and from our communing together with each other to see the humanity in each and every shade and shape of the human face.

The inner rabble rouser wants to shout, “Who’s With Me!” on the Truth Revolutionary cry.  However, I don’t know who is willing to go along with me on this Truth Revolution since as I said, the truth can be uncomfortable and painful to deal with at times. The staunchest pro-choice advocates do not want to admit the truth that an abortion kills a human baby[ciii].  The most ardent of pro-lifers do not want to admit the truth that an abortion might be a medical necessity for some[civ] women[cv] hence it should be legal for them.  The zealous evangelical protestant who believes literately every word of Bible denies the scientifically proven fact [cvi]the earth is a lot older than the 6,029 years[cvii][cviii] that Genesis would have you believe it to be.   The ardent atheistic rational scientist would deny how religion informed the work of Jesuit priest and Big Bang discoverer Georges Lemaître[cix] who used the findings of Astronomers Edwin P. Hubble and Harlow Shapley expanding universe data to verify St. Thomas[cx] Aquinas philosophical Suma Theologica theorems of a first mover and a first cause[cxi] so the universe may have started with this first mover or first cause saying “Let There Be Light”[cxii].  Charlie Kirk believed that gun deaths were the price Americans paid to enjoy the freedom to keep and bear arms the 2nd amendment stated Americans had a right to which had some truth to it.[cxiii]   There is also the truth that I have to allow Kirk’s 1st amendment right to voice an opinion about guns I am sickened by so I in turn can use my 1st amendment right to talk about how gun violence is now the #1 cause of death for children and adolescents [cxiv] so maybe a bit of regulations on guns might be warranted to have fewer gun deaths than we have now. [cxv]

So, once again I know we need the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but can we handle it.

 

 

 

 

 

 


[vi][vi] Woke Racism, How a new Religion Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter, Copywrite 2021 Penguin Press

[lxxxi]   Editor’s note.  I know if for some reason we go with a Base 4 math system then 2+2 = 10. Here are some videos explaining this in greater details and besides, most of us are using our basic 10 decimal fingers to begin to do basic math https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXuX8nCeGjg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sGdpMYQqrI

[cxv] 15 Root Causes of Gun Violence | Human Rights Careers 

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