Society and Pathology

   Much has been written recently about the current president and the pathology of what he says and does.
   There are those who portray everything he says and does as negative, and there are those who see everything as positive, worthy of support and praise, if not adulation.
   As with many other things in life, however, truth and reality -- and how we perceive them -- may be somewhere in between total unequivocal fact, accidental misrepresentation, and flat-out lies.
   A dictionary definition of Truth is "that which conforms to fact or reality." We know what a person says, and news media report these comments when they are uttered by a political leader. But whether these comments, which a person insists are true and conform to fact and reality, actually do so is often an open question.
   The American Declaration of Independence says, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."
   This may well be what folks agree is a great truth, but whether it conforms to fact and reality depends on how people treat each other. In the days of slavery and during wartime, people treat subjects and opponents as somehow less than human, and therefore not equal.
   Unfortunately, attitudes like this are still widespread, in America and around the world.
   In any case, a major function of journalism is to seek out truth and expose wrongdoing by those who do not respect truth.
   May it always be so.