Truth or Fiction?

In last month’s blog I talked about the issue of Conversion Therapy as both the UK Government in Westminster, and the regional Scottish Government in Edinburgh were spending time exploring the issue.  Things have moved on. 

What I hadn’t realised at the time was that Westminster had TWO Private Member’s Bills (PMB) on the subject, one put forward in the House of Lords, by Liberal Democrat Peer, Baroness Burt of Hull, which I mentioned last time.  The second, was introduced in the Commons by Labour member Lloyd Russell-Moyle. 

Currently, Baroness Burt’s bill is in the Committee Stage having passed its second reading.  If it gets through the Lord’s, it will progress to the Commons.  If you want to watch it’s progression, you can check the Government web pages here.  Sadly, the PMB of Lloyd Russell-Moyle has crashed and burned as a small opposition were able to “talk out” the Bill, meaning the Bill is dead.  We still have Baroness Burt’s bill, but whether that gets any further, we’ll have wait and see.  On the other hand, major decisions are still in play in Scotland because the consultation process is still open. 

Many churches in Scotland are openly hostile to the Bill and are hosting prayer meetings against the progress of the legislation, since they believe it will stop them counselling and praying for people asking for help.  As a Christian I can personally see nothing in the Bill that is a threat to, or likely to impinge on, anything I might want to do as an expression of my Christian faith.  If you have not yet done so, and still wish to contribute to the Consultation Process, you still have a little time, but you really need to get a wiggle on, as you only have until April 2^nd.  This is when the consultation process ends and it goes back to the Scottish Government, where it will assess the wording of the bill to be presented to Parliament.  The pressure group Stonewall have produced a helpful guide to the questions, which you can view here.  For the sake of balance, if you are keen to see how churches are being encouraged to answer the questions, you can find their suggested responses here.  Skip it if you know you get angered easily!

Fake news and conspiracy theories

Recently, fake news and conspiracy theories have been growing like never before.  Social media pushes out stories and rumours, and people simply forward them to their friends, or repost them without checking whether they are true or false. 

Going back 25 years when email was still a relatively new phenomenon, we started receiving emails saying, “Microsoft has just released an alert warning about the xxx virus, which is the worst virus ever seen.”  It would go on to describe what it would do, before finishing by saying, in capital letters, “PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!”  It was obviously fake/spam, and designed to play on scaring people, but the point was to clog up email servers with as much junk mail as possible, as people got frightened, and passed it on to their friends.  Genuine virus warnings were, and are, always calm and rational, and carefully explained exactly how to protect yourself.   As a rule of thumb, if you read anything that is alarmist, treat it with great suspicion.  Nowadays, we see similar tricks being used in the propagation of news stories, not to clog up servers, but to boost the numbers of followers of the person doing the posting – since they clearly know more than everyone else!  🤥

“Likes”, “Followers” & “Stars”

We have got to the stage where to be recognised as being a success, you must get as many “likes”, “followers” or “stars” as possible.  Every time you buy something online, or transact with a business, you are “encouraged” to give them five stars, to push them higher up the search result algorithm. Being asked to “submit comments about your experience”, or give somebody five stars for simply doing what you have paid them to do, is maddening!  The star system gives no scope for recognising the occasions where a company, or person, has truly gone further than they need – I guess this is where the online comments might help, but there are more productive ways of using my time.  I’m afraid I don’t complete responses for everything, just occasionally when they might have gone further than they need.

In addition, when internet search engines and social media use algorithms that work by monitoring what you are interested in – and feeding you back more of the same, you end up in a kind of “feedback-loop”, and it is easy to see how people fall down conspiracy “rabbit-holes”.  I’m sure you’ve already proved this yourself on YouTube: if you’ve viewed cats or dogs’ videos, you’ll be fed even more.  I’ve done it when looking at remote controlled boats and planes!

This drive for followers and recognition, is very unhealthy for society, because if the news that people read is driven by the number of stars, re-posts or followers, it means the news that we should be aware of, gets pushed down the results, and we may never see it.

What is false/fake/misinformation?

So, this month I thought I would look at the issue of how we can determine what information we really can rely on as being true, and what we should dismiss as being simply false/fake/misinformation, or indeed, disinformation.  Just to clarify the words misinformation and disinformation: Misinformation is information that is inadvertently wrong or incomplete – a genuine mistake was made, but the information wasn’t correct.  You could argue I gave misinformation last time when I solely spoke about Baroness Burt’s bill, and not Lloyd Russell-Moyle’s.  However, disinformation is information that is deliberately wrong – and usually has the intention to mislead. 

We see a lot of information each day and we need to navigate our way through it, discarding that which we feel is wrong or inaccurate, and assessing what we regard as true and reliable.  In looking at this I must also get you to ask the question, what makes  what I read on this blog true or correct?  How can I believe it?  I hope you regularly double-check the sources I link to.  I would like to think you do your own reading around the issues, seeing what insights other writers have, and whether they are in line with my own, or maybe even challenge what I’ve written.

Spotting what is true and what is fake

So, how do I know what is true and what is fake?

I’m going to try and suggest some principles I’ve gathered over the years.  In Winter 2020, the Poynter Institute ran a free online course called “MediaWise for Seniors: Self-Directed Fact-Checking Course”.  Having just looked for it, I see it is still available on their website.  I found it invaluable, even though it’s target audience is based in the US – and don’t get put off with the word “seniors”!  We can all be seniors for a time!  What I write here is not the notes from that, although I’m sure there will be some unavoidable commonality.

When I was working in IT I spent time teaching people about security, changing passwords, and how to create good and strong replacements, and to be suspicious of emails, especially those with attachments.  From very early in my own IT training we were taught that there is no such thing as a free lunch, because however good it looks, there will be a catch.  It’s fine to be sceptical, from time-to-time, because that scepticism helps to protect you – but it isn’t healthy to be permanently sceptical.

In Philippians 4 verse 8 we read: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”  Clearly the Bible recognised two-thousand years ago that if we continually focus on something, we adopt those characteristics.  Hence, if we focus on being more like Jesus, this is what will happen.  However, if we spend all our lives being sceptical, exploring rabbit-holes, investigating conspiracy theories, that will be the shape our minds will mould to.  God knows what will happen if we only ever watch pet videos! 

I’ve already alluded to this, but early on I learned that the more alarmist and emotional an email was, the less likely it was that you should take it at face value.  This is equally true with social media postings.  If it is written with intention to get you to react quickly or emotionally (anger, indignation, anxiety, fear, etc.) you must treat it with huge amounts of caution. 

Twelve good practices

So, what  other good principles I can use to determine what is true and what is untrue:

• Engage in a bit of critical thinking.  Analyze the evidence you see in front of you and consider whether there are any other valid viewpoints.  Are there any logical misconceptions and biases in the information presented.  In my own writings, as I affirm the LGBTQ+ community, other well-intentioned Christians will disagree with my stance, so take that on board when deciding on your own position.  I am biased, and so will you – and everyone else, so keep it in mind as you balance what you are told.
• I’ve already alluded to this, but can the information be verified through credible sources.  Fact-checking is important, so look for multiple reliable sources that corroborate the information.  Look at fact-checking sites like: BBC Verify, Full Fact, Reuters fact check, Snopes, FactCheck.org, Politifact which is part of the Poynter Institute (mentioned earlier), and others!  However, I’ll let you do your own search, but I’ve given you somewhere to start, using UK and USA sites.  You can even see how different fact checkers rate against each other at MediaBias/FactCheck
• Does it contain a verifiable source for the story?  When you are fact-checking, try and find the earliest source of the information.  Primary sources, such as research papers or official documents, can provide more accurate and reliable information. 
• The same is true for pictures.  What was the earliest date (or time) that the picture appeared on the internet?  For example, in the Russian attack on Ukraine and in the current Israeli conflict in Gaza, we find pictures from previous conflicts being used to bolster an untrue story someone wants to tell, because it didn’t happen in the way they say, and anyway, there are no current pictures.  This is wrong, as any picture must be genuinely from the conflict being reported.  If it is a picture, is it genuine, or has it been lifted from somewhere else, or edited?  Do a reverse image search (instructions here) to see where else in the internet it has been used.
• When looking at science and statistics especially, make use of Evidence-Based Reasoning by seeking out empirical evidence, scientific studies, and peer-reviewed research to support any claims being made.
• Be particularly cautious of claims that seem too good to be true – because they probably are!
• Be aware of the context in which the information is presented.  If you understand the background, motives, and potential biases of the information source, this can help in evaluating its credibility.
• Check out the consensus among experts in the relevant field.  Consensus among reputable professionals can provide valuable guidance and help verify the accuracy of the information.  In the UK, in 1998, we saw the sad controversy surrounding the fraudulent research involving the alleged side-effects of the MMR vaccine, where it was wrongly alleged that the vaccine was linked to the cause of Autism.  We still live with a distrust of vaccines because of this case.  The expert consensus was largely ignored at the time by many people who now regret it.
• Don’t rely only on headlines for your “news intake”.  Short form news can be accidentally or deliberately misleading, where a short phrase is used out of context to give one impression, whilst the whole “piece” was conveying a totally different message.  I know the tendency today is for politicians to try and create a short soundbite for media companies, but it is far better to read (watch or listen to) long-form news.  Some people coming to this blog will be simply deciding TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read), but it has been encouraging to find different media companies making a virtue from slow news, so that stories are not rushed, but reported in detail.  One of the best is Tortoise Media, but Delayed Gratification uses the strapline: “Proud to be ‘Last to Breaking News’ since 2011”.  I think slow news has a lot going for it, and it is worth making time to get things right.  There is more about this phenomenon here.
• I would also encourage people to keep an open mind and be willing to revise beliefs based on new evidence.  As I get older, I see fewer and fewer black and white issues, and my thinking has changed a lot since my rather intense teenage years.  Also try and avoid confirmation bias, which involves seeking out information that simply confirms preexisting beliefs.  Don’t be afraid of views that conflict with your own.
• Look for transparency and accountability in the sources of information you are viewing.  If it is science or statistical information you are reading, reliable sources should disclose the methods they use, the raw data they collected, and potential conflicts of interest.  As an example, Alfred Kinsey who developed the Kinsey Scale to measure the scale of sexual behaviour (with heterosexual at one end and homosexual at the other) interviewed 11k people for his study.  However, he omitted data from non-white people, which is significant.  There are other problems which we don’t have time to go into here.  Nowadays the Kinsey Study is not regarded as being reliable, but was significant in its time.  Perhaps it was simplistic whereas sexuality is even more nuanced than Kinsey demonstrated.  On my site I always try and quote every source I use, where possible.
• Keep a lookout for any retractions, corrections, or updates related to the information. Sometimes, new evidence may emerge that alters the initial understanding of a topic, as with the Kinsey Study just mentioned.

The importance of Truth

So why is truth so important?

In a sense this is one of those obvious questions, yet we so often hear and read that we live in a “post-truth” world.  It’s said with a manner of a shrug of the shoulders, that it’s sad, but there is nothing that can be done.  It’s almost as if it doesn’t really matter much.  Yet truth is important, but not just that, it is vital. 

If in your job, truth was flexible, your career would quickly end.  Consider the accountant being less than scrupulous with the figures; the doctor being careless with the drug they administer; the engineer who doesn’t check measurements (remember the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1998, that probably burned up in the Martian atmosphere because they confused imperial and metric units).  The building that is unstable, because it is poorly constructed, or built with insufficient foundations.  The car or coach that is unsafe to drive.  The shop that sells shoddy goods – remember Gerald Ratner, who destroyed his own company.  The grocery chain selling unsafe food.  And we can go on and on. 

Truth promotes trust.  When trust breaks down, relationships fail.  If widespread trust fails, it is very likely that society will break down as well.  Hence it is concerning that we see so many politicians not just here in the UK, but especially in the US who encourage the promulgation of lies – whilst others are terrified to challenge those lies. 

In the light of the Crocus City Hall attack, in Moscow, a few days ago, as I write this, Russian media sources produced a video of a Ukrainian general confirming that Ukraine was behind the attack.  However, this was proved to be a deep-fake, especially as it was proved later to be attackers from Islamic State-Khorasanor (IS-K) from Tajikistan.  No part of the world seems immune from this disease of treating truth as inconvenient while failing to understand the long-term repercussions.  “That’s not my problem!” — they say.

Truth should be fundamental for the Bible-believing Christian, but we have seen how many Christians ignore truth because it threatens their specific interpretation of Biblical text when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues.  Alternatively, we see American Evangelicals support a repeatedly, proven liar.  Jesus calls us to be salt and light within the communities we live, to purify, and be a light in the darkness, but if the salt has gone and the light hidden, we are in a terrible place.  As Jesus says, if the salt is gone, what’s left “is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

And the Bible also says…

What else does the Bible have to say about truth?

The Bible teaches that we should be people others can rely on, truthful in what we say, honest in our dealings with others, and strong in our defence of others.  The writer of Ephesians 4 wants us to be modelled on Christ building one another up so that “we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” (v 14)

Along with truth and trust, we should also draw in the word “dependence”.  Sometimes the word has negative connotations because we hear politicians moaning about people who are dependent on “benefits”.  However, we all have people we depend on, and people who depend on us.  To be dependable, gives us strength, and others relief and comfort.  If we cannot trust others or they cannot trust you, life becomes very stressful.  The Psalmist, David, talks about his total dependence on God, and in his dependence, he finds his strength.  In Psalm 62:5-8, he writes: “⁵ Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.  ⁶ Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  ⁷ My salvation and my honour depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  ⁸ Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”

David also talks about the idea of truth, recognising that the person who exhibits a life of truth is the one who will be accepted into God’s presence: “¹ Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?  Who may live on your holy mountain?  ² The one whose way of life is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart;” (Psalm 15)

Speaking “the truth from their heart”

The idea of speaking “the truth from their heart” is not the careless telling the truth regardless of whether it physically or mentally damages someone — “Oh I thought you knew about….” .  Nor is it the self‑righteous “love the sinner, but hate the sin”.  No, it is the love that one friend has for another, one that aches deeply when they see that their friend is hurting, but they are powerless to do anything to help.  It’s the arm around the shoulder love that seeks to gently restore them and to share some of the pain and at the same time, provide protection.  It is the love we see Jesus demonstrate in Matthew 9:36:  “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

The Bible speaks many times on the need to be strong, to be trustworthy, to love truth and be dependable.  We are called to defend those who are oppressed and at their wits end.  Those who are Christians should be reflecting the nature of Jesus, not leading others down darkened rabbit-holes of conspiracy and cynicism.  Neither should they be giving any support to anyone who seeks to lead others astray for personal gain.

One of the verses that is impossible not to keep referring to, is found in Micah 6: 8, where the writer states: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Whether we are people of faith or not, we must recognise how important it is to be intentionally truthful in everything we say and do.  We have lost a lot of ground in the last few years, but it can still be reclaimed.  Our communities depend on it, and all who follow Jesus are called to it.  I quoted Ephesians 4 earlier, and the following verse (15) says: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

Finally, Paul writing to the Romans in chapter 12 says: “⁹ Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love.  Honour one another above yourselves. … ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  I could have put in the whole section, because it is so apt, but you can read it here.  Yes, click that link!