http://communicationisinspiration.com/2009/05/26/the-many-faces-of-truth/ Generation 2 Generation: Let's Talk Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:09:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=Communication is Inspiration hourly 1 http://communicationisinspiration.com/2009/05/26/the-many-faces-of-truth/comment-page-1/#comment-4084 David Braun Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:52:30 +0000 http://communicationisinspiration.com/2009/05/26/the-many-faces-of-truth/#comment-4084 I can recall the evidence class in law school when the issue was "what is truth". Is it a perception influenced by a lifetime of experiences or is it an absolute that perception cannot hide or change. A famous example used at one law school was the unannounced intrusion of a stranger into the classroom who within 20 seconds threatened the lecturer and then ran out the door. No one was anticipating the incident. The lecturer then proceeded to ask members of the class to identify the intruder. Of ten or more responses none were able to identify height, weight, clothing, whether a weapon was used etc. The actual truth was never revealed, only the perceptions of the witnesses which obviously were influenced by many factors in their lives. In the justice system where rules are devised to determine the facts of a "truth" what we get instead is someone's perception of the "truth" influenced by biases, prejudices, predeterminations. assumptions etc. It is one of the reasons people do not support the death penalty or believe uncritically media reporting or blog reporting, much of which is based on a particular belief system. I can recall the evidence class in law school when the issue was "what is truth". Is it a perception influenced by a lifetime of experiences or is it an absolute that perception cannot hide or change. A famous example used at one law school was the unannounced intrusion of a stranger into the classroom who within 20 seconds threatened the lecturer and then ran out the door. No one was anticipating the incident. The lecturer then proceeded to ask members of the class to identify the intruder. Of ten or more responses none were able to identify height, weight, clothing, whether a weapon was used etc. The actual truth was never revealed, only the perceptions of the witnesses which obviously were influenced by many factors in their lives. In the justice system where rules are devised to determine the facts of a "truth" what we get instead is someone's perception of the "truth" influenced by biases, prejudices, predeterminations. assumptions etc. It is one of the reasons people do not support the death penalty or believe uncritically media reporting or blog reporting, much of which is based on a particular belief system.

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