The Falsity of Truth

You have stinky breath. Yes, you, the one sitting there reading this blog right now. Perhaps you're
upset by what I've just said. Perhaps you'd like to go and complain to your friends that bloody
bloggers these days have no respect. But how would you prove to your friends that the remarks
was disrespectful? perhaps you'd show them this blog - that will pinpoin the truth of the matter,
right? or will it ? what if i told you that i didnt think stinky breath was a bad thing at all, and
therefore it's not an insult? If what's trly an insult to you isn;t truly an insult to someone else, then is
there even such a thing as truth?
When faced with the possibility that there is no such thing as turth, most people balk. Everyonhing
to cling to as true, because without it we feel cut adrift. This is why reading the works of Friedrich
Nietzsche often produces such a strong reaction in people - because one of the keys tones of
Nietzsche's philosophy is whatever we call the "truth" is simply an idea we've plucked, for various
reasons, out of the thin air and appropriated as something solid, because we need it.
By now, some of you will be crying "nihilist!", but Nietzsche was no advocate of nothingness.
Instead, by pointing out that differing moral codes and ponts of view exist because human cannot
grasp "truth" - if it even exists - what he was really doing was advocating respect for the "truths" of
others.
But if there;s no real truth, what's the point of life? For some reason, we find this is a bleak idea,
even though Nietzsche stressed that just because "points' are not intrinsic in life doesn't mean
they're not valuable.
Acknowledging the validity of his ideas also prepares one for the many duplicitous practices that
exist around us. People can use against us the fact that we are most comfortable with a single
truth.They can hawk narrow-minded perspectives that are meant to agree with us, thus gaining our
approval and making our strings more accessible to their tugging hands.
Say you own a publication that targets a certain segment of the populace - the elderly, for
example. To appeal to the older segments, you could fill your column inches with alarmist view on
how the youth are going to the dogs and dragging culture and tradition along with them, The entire
'black metal' fiasco that slithered out of the tabloids and into our national consciousness last year is
a good example of pandering to people's fears and truth concepts.the target audeience in question
held certain view about youths, views that cunning people can effectively utilise, first by concurring
with them, and then by amplifying them. This works the other way too. Publications that are
targeted at youths use the same tricks. They never attempt to chaleenge or to point out when
something their readers are doing is wrong. Instead they paint themsleves as the youth's best
friends, standing steadfast against a looming army of evil people. This might help to comfor the
youth, and it will certainly sell more copies, but in the long run it will be harmful... because nobody
is ever truly in the right, and they hold never be led to believe that they are.
It is because of Nietzsche that I am exceedingly wary of the idea that there is only one right way.
People are always saying that there's a right way to write - sources as varied as William
Wrodsworth and Stephen King have put in their cents on this topic - when there actually isn't.
There's a right way for Wordsworth to write, and a right way for King to write, but neither way is
intrinsically more 'true'
The very act of wirting creates new truths. In trying to document something that happens in real
life, there is no way you can get an exact depiction. Just thinking about it changes it. Which applies
to this blog too - my thoughts, the ones that resulted in these words, differ from the words that will
eventually be posted, which differ again from the impressions form in your mind as you read them.
You might, for example think that I'm talking nonsense... plus, you'd still be mad that I insulted
you.

PS to Daddy: Don't worry, I'm not an anarchrist. Yet.