"Truth vs. relativism"

or "Political Correctness"

(posted Dec 16, 2007)

The hallmark of what is now known as the politically-correct "postmodern era," within which we now find ourselves, is relativism. Relativism is its defining characteristic. Simply put, it is the belief that "all things are relative." You hear it all the time.

My personal favorite is "that may be truth for you, but that's not truth for me."

This idea is not new. In the pre Greek world, to which one could argue we are we are now regressing back, truth was seen to be made up of a pantheon of different belief systems. One of the main things that made the Greeks so worthy of our study is that they began to break out of relativism and revere logic and the logical process of seeking out Absolute Truth. The Greeks realized that

it is illogical to presume that two ideas which are in conflict with each other, might somehow both be correct.

Nowadays, the attempt to assert Absolute Truth is often seen as "narrow-minded," dismissed as right-wing conservative ideology, or just plain mean. If you can believe it, there are actually many voices in postmodern culture who call the whole logical process, and the Greeks and the Western Civilization they initiated, racist. No, I am not kidding. I can only guess that they make this illogical linkage because relativism balks at anything that seems exclusive. Yet when two ideas collide, one or the other - or neither - has to be True or false.

Postmodern ideologues gasp to hear someone utter such a thing. To suggest that Truth is absolute is judgmental - and even sinful - within the alternate morality system of political-correctness. Yet it must be so. The chair I am sitting in right now was made in a factory at a specific location and out of specific materials. My belief about those facts does nothing at all to alter them. The Truth of this chair's creation exists completely independent of my opinions.

So do all other facts. I do not for a moment pretend to have the whole collection of these Truths...but I acknowledge that they exist. Some Truths are more difficult to define than others...but we cannot fall into the trap of believing that the difficulty of grasping a certain Truth makes it innately "fuzzy" or gray.

"The only thing relative about Truth is the willingness of people to find it, and apply it."     

- Marc Heileman

Of course, there are things that are matters of opinion. The statement that "brunettes are better than blondes" would certainly fall into that category. But it is a shallow mistake to use such a statement in an attempt to illustrate that all issues are merely "matters of opinion." One of our jobs as humans is to get at Truths as best we can. We can't do that if we are not willing to make judgment calls. "Good judgment" is, in fact, a large part of the definition of maturity and adulthood. Often, however, we encounter critics who would call that same process "judgmental" or "closed-minded." If we buy that, we stunt our growth by casting a negative connotation - and even a guilt trip - over the "good judgment" that we need and revere as the path to making good decisions.

What's Your Spin?: We can call the process above  judgmental, or we can call it making good judgment calls,...the difference is just one illustration of how a person with an agenda can spin anything and make it sound better or worse at will. That's why we have to dig deeper than the bumper-sticker-slogan level.

As for being "open-minded?" Yes, of course we should be. As for the right to have your opinion....OF COURSE we all have that right. What people miss however is that:

The right to have your opinion is not the same thing as the right to be assumed correct in them whenever you share them with others

Open-minded should mean that we can hear the contributions of other people who are also trying to get at Truth. But "Open-minded" does not at all mean that we must be "open" to the existence of just any set of asserted truths. That's foolish and illogical. PiC or not, I will tell you plainly that I would not respect someone's belief that a Ken doll in a surfing outfit was god in some new invented religion. That sounds extreme, but that example is just as valid as any invented Truth. Anyone who will lend respect to that kind of foolishness can only contribute noise (and meaningless debate- for-its-own-sake) for anyone who is on a sincere quest to get at the heart of a matter.  When I recognize that someone is doing that, I do not necessarily shut them out completely - after all, many of these people are valued friends and family, and there are sometimes the occasional nuggets of truth to be found anywhere - but I weigh the input from relativistic people very differently. I'm not closed off to them...but I am selective about how much noise I allow into my head....much as I choose how much junk food I am willing to consume. Some of it might even be tasty and enjoyable, and a moderate amount may be fun, but...well, you see where I am going with that metaphor. If you are a Florida voter and cannot grasp my meaning, then just write me.

I believe that relativism is often a default position that people take when they cease to be able to employ logic in the defense of their arguments; or when a person is motivated by modern political-correctness to go to great pains to avoid offending anyone via disagreement. Ironically, this approach is most often espoused by left-leaning people and university academics who claim to champion "progressive" ideals like freedom of thought. What they actually mean is that "I'm okay, you're okay; you are entitled to believe anything you wish and I'll respect that...as long as you think and speak correctly." Open-minded? Hardly. They are very closed-minded to anyone who disagrees with them. Try to imagine them talking "fairly" with Rush Limbaugh and you see what I mean. Yet it is this approach that pervades our postmodern culture; has the sympathy and complicity of the media and debate-driven academics; and blocks the road to Truth. How this has come to be called "politically-correct" - or correct in any connotation - is a mystery to me.

Disagreement is nothing to fear, as most of the world's great discoveries have come to light through competitive disagreement. It spurs us on and makes us flesh out what we believe and why. It forges our resolve and sharpens our ability to articulate our ideas to others. In short, disagreement is nothing to fear. It's a natural part of reaching the Truth.

"Those who dare not offend cannot be honest"         - Thomas Paine

See also my "Bible" article for how God has provided us proofs of The Christian Truth