Question

Explain the allegory of the cave, then explain the ideas in one of this week’s articles. Do you think that in the post-truth era we are trapped, like the cave dwellers, by our own biases?

Answer 1

The allegory of the cave explains that truth is always in existence around us, but our view of it is blurred through our biases and limited knowledge. Our blurred vision stands as a barrier as we are unable to decipher what is reality and what is false information. When we become accustomed to misguided information it will become even harder to understand truth. Once we seek the truth and find it, it will be a hard thing to swallow, but there will be no doubt in our minds that it is true and we will want more of it. Knowing the truth is like taking a breath of air, after drowning in a sea full of fake news. Once exposed, we will always want to seek out truth and share with those around us. Others who have yet to experience truth, they will be filled with doubt. Without their effort to find truth, they will be forever imprisoned in their dark cave where their reality is only the shadows that appear before them, instead of the full light of the sun that is truth.

I believe that being “trapped” is a decision we make. We can choose to be free from the handcuffs of own biases and seek the truth behind what we are being fed by the media or we can choose to leave the handcuffs on and consume all that we read and see; that is our personal choice. If we do not do the work for ourselves, someone else will do it for us. The difference is being told what to believe and knowing for yourself through research and experience and being able to confirm or deny through knowledge gained.

We are all bias in some way. Our bias is the drive behind the spread of fake news. Being able to recognize this and move on to breaking this habit is a process we can all acknowledge and commit to. As Nick Enfield (2017) states, “…humans are psychologically capable of the remarkable feat of focusing our attention on our own thought processes and deliberately overriding them.” Recognizing and being educated in these patterns I believe is the first step. Once we have been educated on what “post-truth” means and how it affects our decisions and how it has been used to brain wash us into supporting lies, it is then that we will be more motivated to put in the work that is needed.