THE TRUTH IS FOR SALE
And it's going cheap!
I’ve felt less inclined to talk about my wider political views in recent times, but sometimes it’s too important to stay completely silent. It’s a hard fact that my audience contains people of many political persuasions, and it’s too small to alienate any single demographic without risking an economical loss my career couldn’t sustain. The reality of life as an artist means we have to nurture our supporters to stay alive. And in any case, while I’ve always been transparent about my own beliefs I have always attempted to find common ground, and to encourage open and considerate discourse. To try to learn and/or to understand.
But there’s a future America - and, to be fair, world - where a huge chunk of the population absolutely believe untruths as truths, and alternate ‘facts’ as fact. It’s how it largely is already. And I wonder how any country can want an ignorant, ill-informed population as its base?
Of course I understand that is the remit of a government that wants to control its population, and that it all began with deregulation. And worst of all, perhaps, is that the single driver of all of this is money. If truth doesn't equal ratings then to hell with it, and let's just consign everybody to a vicious cycle of conflict and ignorance in the process, just to increase the shocking wealth of the mega rich.
But if a country wants to truly be a world leader, then it should value above all else the unfiltered truth, and actual, verifiable facts. And that’s at the heart of education, and what governing bodies uphold and demand from their schools.
I’m perpetually disheartened by the numbers of interviewees that believe that people can control the weather, while simultaneously not believing humans can cause global warming - as just one example of contradictory information in one block. The ‘evidence’ for such is out there, very persuasive to non-experts, and amplified by those with a vested interest in doing so. But the readiness to believe wild theories over self-evident facts, and so on, starts with a lack of insistence on there being a consensus that the truth matters at a fundamental level in education and across the board - at school, on TV and on the radio.
The reality of sitting senators believing the world is 6,000 years old and that humans lived with dinosaurs remains shocking to me. Sadly, opinion now equals truth and there’s apparently no going back at this stage.
Whatever you currently believe, we must all want the same thing, surely? For for the unquestionable truth of things to be understood by everybody?
Facts matter, don't they?
Truth matters. Right?
If something is wrong we should be glad to know it, and happy to be informed.
But most importantly, we should ALL be able to trust our sources 100%.
Liam this is so well said. By the way I love your art and wish you were still drawing Wonder Woman, one of the best ever artists for that character hands down. - Seena Shamsavari
100% Well said. Thank you!