No More Conspiracies!

Posted on 25 November 2015

I am tired of people handing me conspiracy theories. These will often be passed around as memes and I will have people insisting they are supporting the truth. It makes me especially sad when my “make love not war” crew are a part of this, seething in their own version of hatred with no self-reflection that they are doing it.

I have a doctoral degree. Journalists and researchers are expected to have a high degree of integrity when it comes to presenting information (whether or not they always follow through on this). If you want to represent the truth, then you need to check your sources: Are they reliable? Do they have a bias? Were they direct observers of the event? What evidence do they have? Is it verifiable?

The fact of the matter is: if you weren’t there, you don’t know what happened. You are relying on second, even third, fourth, or fifth degree accounts. And these accounts can be coloured by a person who is racist, anti-semitic, classist (upper or lower), sexist, etc. There is plenty of wrong-doing in the world without falsely accusing people of it, and we can very easily see much of it without having to invent stories out of hatred or for the thrill.

Now I am also a long time arts practitioner, and I would be the first to say that emotions are a crucial part of who we are, but they need to be mature emotions tempered by the wisdom of understanding. Otherwise, there is no truth, only a constant rage that feeds itself on lies and half-truths. The easiest way to not fall down that hole is to focus on your experience, doing what you can, and caring about people, rather than finding reason to judge them. If you have the time, then making an effort to genuinely piece together the truth is much appreciated.

In peace, kindness, and friendship,

Katherine


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