A Well Known Truth [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on October 23, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’ve been thinking a lot about truth lately. What is true and what is not – and in this age of technology how do we know? A photograph is no longer proof that something happened. Neither is a film or a voice recording. All can be manufactured and manipulated. The legacy news outlets are partisan at best: narratives are manipulated for ratings or some other less palatable agenda…but only loosely related to truth.

How do we know what is factual when there is a concerted effort – from every direction – to spin the truth?

If truth is a coherence that emerges when facts are lined up and stitched together, then the best way to undermine the truth is to deny the facts. In this age of rampant gaslighting and cries of “fake news”, indisputable facts are daily obscured by clouds of deceit and tsunamis of nonsense.

How do we, as a nation, as a community, expect to debate best paths forward when we are incapable – or unwilling – to acknowledge facts? At the No Kings rally I had a conversation with a man who perfectly captured the challenge we face. Playing devil’s advocate, he said: “Who needs facts! If I believe it is true then it is true.”

These are facts:

~ Election fraud in our system is statistically zero.

~ In 2020 a mob incited by the current president attacked the Capitol.

~ He lost the 2020 election. He is a felon. He’s been found libel for sexual assault.

~ He’s a pathological liar.

~He wants us to believe that voter fraud is rampant in our elections.

Based on a plethora of facts, when stitched together, it is impossible to escape this truth: he is waging a war on our Constitution in order to install an authoritarian state. To do it he needs us to divorce ourselves from the facts. He needs us to be afraid.

Water freezes at 32 degrees. Fact.

Truth: The horizon calls us to the unknown. It invites us to ask, “What’s beyond?” It’s why we build ships, sail to the edge, seek religious freedom, play with fire, build roads, seek cures and imagine and strive for a nation governed by the people and not a king. It’s why we seek truth and rely on facts to get us there.

This is a well-known truth stitched together from facts: Democracy dies in darkness. “Without reliable information, the public cannot make informed choices, leading to the gradual erosion and collapse of democratic institutions.”