Truth–a Secondary Consideration
From Bertrand Russell:“The first thing to realize…is that most people go through life with a whole world of beliefs that have no sort of rational justification, and that one man’s world of beliefs is apt to be incompatible with another man’s, so that they cannot both be right. People’s opinions are mainly designed to make them feel comfortable; truth, for most people is a secondary consideration.”
This quote is probably 80 years old, and, while has applied all through human history, it’s especially relevant today.
Russell’s era, the early-mid-2oth Century, coincided with the early days of television. Suppose you had gone to the president of one of the budding networks with a pitch for a show that went like this:
“It’s a show called “The News,” but it’s really not news at all. It’s a collection of incendiary lies directed at uneducated white people, inciting their anger at colored people and immigrants like Italians. If there is a Democrat in the White House, it makes him look like a crooked, senile fool. If it’s a Republican, it ignores any and all facts, and makes him look like a courageous superhero, a champion of the people. It’s bound to be a hit, because everyone wants to hear what he already believes, and no one really places any value on truth.”
Your sorry ass would be out on the street as fast as security could escort you out of the building.
Just a few decades later, that concept, in the form of Fox News, rakes in $12.9 billion annually.
