The Fog of Information: Information vs Truth

 

The Fog of Information:  Information vs Truth  

 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. (Prov 25: 2)

 In this informational age, we find that information has become a tool for both good and evil. Those under the sun who seek power and control use the information to twist the minds of others to their own purposes. However, truth is hidden and known only to those who seek truth and not just information. Truth opens eyes. Information without truth blinds the eyes. This is what Jesus was referring to when He scolded the religious leaders of His day, who were also political leaders. The following is quoted from Wikipedia. The photographs added by me:

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The Big Lie

 A big lie (German: große Lüge) is a propaganda technique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". Hitler believed the technique was used by Jews to blame Germany's loss in World War I on German general Erich Ludendorff, who was a prominent nationalist and antisemitic political leader in the Weimar Republic.

 Hitler's use of the expression

The source of the big lie technique is this passage, taken from Chapter 10 of James Murphy's translation of Mein Kampf (the quote is one paragraph in Murphy's translation and in the German original):

But it remained for the Jews, with their unqualified capacity for falsehood, and their fighting comrades, the Marxists, to impute responsibility for the downfall precisely to the man who alone had shown a superhuman will and energy in his effort to prevent the catastrophe which he had foreseen and to save the nation from that hour of complete overthrow and shame. By placing responsibility for the loss of the world war on the shoulders of Ludendorff they took away the weapon of moral right from the only adversary dangerous enough to be likely to succeed in bringing the betrayers of the Fatherland to Justice.

All this was inspired by the principle—which is quite true within itself—that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.

It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.

— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X

Goebbels's use of the expression

Though the following supposed quotation of Joseph Goebbels has been repeated in numerous books and articles and on thousands of web pages, none of them has cited a primary source. Thus its attribution to anyone must be considered dubious. According to the research and reasoning of Randall Bytwerk, it is an unlikely thing for Goebbels to have said.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

It is verified that Goebbels did put forth a theory that has come to be more commonly associated with the expression "big lie". Goebbels wrote the following paragraph in an article dated 12 January 1941, 16 years after Hitler's first use of the phrase. The article, titled Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik (English: "From Churchill's Lie Factory") was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel.

The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie)

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 Here is Nancy Pelosi’s take on the Big Lie:

Nancy Pelosi and the Big Lie

This is a  modern-day, transparent application of the Big Lie. I have tried to find the source of the clip but have not found it. If you know, please send it to me.

05/18/2021 Update - As of this date, no one has come forward to verify or debunk this clip. However, in the interest of truth and the purpose of this immediate page and the entire website, I revisited this question and found the following website. For it, it appears that Nancy Pelosi was not advocating utilizing the wrap-up smear but claiming that the Republicans were doing it.

it is a present reality and wrong and regardless of which party uses it, it is wrong and Christians need to be aware and not participate in its use.

Video Clip Debunked

 As those who seek truth above all we need to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matt 10:16) The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to “know”. (1 John 2:20) The proper understanding here is that we all have the ability to know, not that we know everything as the KJV suggests.

  A word of caution is warranted. In the Greek world, knowledge became both a philosophical and a theological conundrum. There was little agreement as to what knowledge is hence stoicism, Gnosticism, etc. This is especially true in this Postmodern world where many are now arguing that there is no absolute truth and even that truth is a social construct.

 I have often commented that we, God’s people, do not have a corner on truth. We have a corner on God. He alone has the truth and to find it one must know Him.

Jesus said:

 If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  (John 8:31-32)

 I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. (John 14:6-7)