Truth and Consequence

 Sometimes you just don't have the words.

A friend of mine had just messaged me about "Truth". She always poses deep thinking questions, and I love to reflect on them. Her initial message included a video of a guy who was rethinking the accusations that Trump is a racist. I didn't quite get the point at first, but she was pointing out the fact that what seemed to be true also seemed NOT to be true. That people needed to dig deep into information to mine out the Truth. She believed in a Real Truth that was apart and different from an individual's perceptions or experiences. It dwelled outside of us but was very real. 

I get that. In fact, I'm not so sure she isn't right. However, how are we to determine this Truth, if we are clouded by our own perceptions of it? 

I am more of the belief that Truth is how we perceive it. That Truth is not Universal, not set in stone. Truth is like the present time. It isn't hard and fast. Truth is not even Fact or Evidence though I would say that both support what Truth is defined as. Time only lasts for the moments you're in it. Time is relative so perhaps is Truth. 

Nothing has convinced me more of this that what happened in Minnesota this past week. A woman driving an SUV was shot three times by an ICE agent who was standing/moving around her vehicle. Video was recorded of the incident on several different cell phones by several witnesses. Phone footage even emerged from the ICE agent who shot her. One would think that video footage of an incident, something that can be replayed, slowed down, pictures isolated, zoomed into, would be Truth. That camera has no perceptions, no previous experiences, no personal bias; it records what it is pointed at. However, this is not the case.

The same video footage is interpreted in very different ways by different people. Some say the driver was trying to flee the scene and may have clipped the agent with her vehicle, causing him to fire out of defense. Some say the driver was trying to get out of the way and the agent shot her because she refused to comply. Some say the agent was just frustrated and trying to look for an excuse to become violent. Some call it self-defense, and some call it murder. Some say the agent is to blame and needs to be jailed. Some say the driver should have just obeyed the agents. 

In any case, the Truth (with a capital T) is lost. Even with video footage from different angles, different people believe the Truth to be what they make it. If there is a Universal Truth here, I submit, that we will never see it. This incident of the killing of Renee Good has become so political (in just a few short hours, actually) that Truth has already been compromised. This does not mean that there is no Evidence of wrongdoing or Facts pertaining to motive.

Our Justice system, ideally, deals with getting to the Truth. But is Justice based on Truth or on Evidence? Evidence can be brought before Justice and be determined not to be Factual or Truthful. Facts can be submitted but they do not make up the whole picture that makes up Truth. 

If anything could even be close to Truth, it would be Fact and yet Facts can be manipulated and taken out of context. They aren't everything. 

Herein lies the rub, I think. We want to know everything. We want the whys and the what-fors. We want to know the details. If we didn't, we wouldn't gossip or make up stories or lie. But we CAN'T know everything. We can't say what goes on in another person's mind. Even cameras can't tell the Truth. That "ghost/paranormal" photo? Light in the lens. A distortion of windows or water or light. The lens sees it even if we don't. 

We are creatures of 5 senses and that tells us what we need to know but our minds demand more. So, we tell stories, we suppose evidence to fill in gaps, we create gods or devils. We explain the unexplainable with these tales and we believe them because they cannot be "proven" wrong. We can all see the exact same thing and call it something different.

Here's the one thing I do know about the killing of Renee Nicole Good: her final words. She didn't sound like she was getting ready to run over an ICE agent. Did she exit her vehicle when asked? No. But she had her driver's side window down. She wasn't hiding from them or trying to escape them. She was talking to them like people do. She was moving her vehicle as asked. Why was there an agent in front of her vehicle? Why would he draw his weapon? Some are saying "self-defense". How does killing the driver of a car that is already heading at you (which I don't believe) going to save you from that car? It isn't. Shouldn't the agent be jumping out of the way? Shouldn't he aim for the tires if he thought she was fleeing? Why fire into the windshield or through the driver's window to the driver? That isn't going to stop the vehicle. The vehicle will continue forward until it hits something heavy enough to stop it. People are saying that it all happens so fast that no one can think it through, they just react. Aren't officers and all law enforcement agents TRAINED for these situations? Isn't that part of their job? Isn't that why NOT ALL PEOPLE can be in law enforcement?

Do I know what the Truth is here? Hell no. I don't think anyone except that officer and that widow know the truth. But Justice doesn't require Truth only Evidence. And unfortunately, the evidence is subject to interpretation and manipulation.

Will there be consequences? For somebody, somewhere, yes. 

I don't know what's true here. 

I do know that a woman is dead. I do know that a man with authority called her a "fuckin bitch" after her shot her. Those are facts and they are part of the Truth.

-Wy