Richard Wilson's "Don't Get Fooled Again"

I picked this up at the library for some light reading. I'm pleased with it. Too often the stuff is truly boring. But this is well written and interesting. And, as a bonus, it actually teaches some useful skills.

I find the author's background in philosophy adds to my interest in the book. He points out that Greek sophists argued that there was no real truth "out there" and that Socrates and Plato, the originators of academic philosophy, fought this. That was 2,500 years ago, but that same argument is going on today. The "sophisticates" of today are still selling this same relativism "anything goes" snake oil.

He illustrates this with his own experience. During a casual conversation at a party he mentions that he was trying to get at the truth about his sister's killed by terrorists while in central Africa. The other person responded "But do you think there really is such as thing as the truth about what happened?" This leads the author to write in this book:

But it struck me that the post-modern chic must have put down quite some roots in our culture when it can seem acceptable, in polite converstaion to suggest to the brother of a terror victgim that there is actually no truth to know about his sister's death. While the glib catch-phrase 'it's all relative' has become part of the currency of modern life, it's an idea with troubling implications. If all beliefs are equally valid, then what basis do we have for valuing the testimony of an Auschwitz survivor over that of a revisionist historian who denies that the holocaust ever took place? Or for believing the health claims of cancer researchers over those of a tobacco company? Or for thinking that two plus two equals four, rather than seven?

The paradox is that when scepticism collapses into relativism we open the door to believing in anything and everything. If there's no such thing as truth, then there isn't much point in worrying whether or not your beliefs are truthful. If truth is entirely subjective, then it's futile even discussing your point of view with people you disagree with. If we reject logic, then it's impossible to put together any kind of system for distinguishing good ideas from gibberish.