If something you thought to be true were not true, when would you want to know about it? In today’s world, with all the financial information from the media, radio, TV and websites, the truth can be redefined and actually be transformed into something that is not true. Simply put, if you repeat something over and over again, it will be perceived as being fact. Marketing companies use these tactics when marketing their products. So does the financial-services industry.
Politicians have mastered the art of double talk, misstatements, misinformation and repeated lies. They are under the delusion that we continue to believe them, and they have the mistaken impression that we really need them. The media feeds us a relentless amount of garbage. The truth has become nothing more than people giving their opinions, and trying to shape society to their image, of course. All of this is my opinion, not fact. You see, when it comes to opinions, you can agree with me or not. Either way, it is okay.
A myth is sort of funny. It is an idea that can be proven somewhat true on one hand and proven false on another. Typically, myths will occur when the results are not predictable by fact. Fact can become myth as new things are discovered and learned, just as myth can become a fact with the discovery of more information. Mankind knows a lot about what it thinks it knows, and knows very little about everything else. Heck, it took man a very long time to get over the idea that the earth was not flat. I am afraid that we are going to have to get over a lot of other things we think are true, but again, that is just my opinion. When it comes to myth, one’s opinion may become more compelling than actual facts involved. Someone declaring that a newborn baby is ugly will never convince the mother of that baby that her child is ugly, even though in a cute sort of way, it is. Myth is something that can be argued with a combination of fact and opinion. Whether it is true or not is in the eye of the beholder.
A fact is a fact. It is what it is. Someone saying it is cold outside (opinion) is different from someone saying it is 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside (fact). An Eskimo may not think 20 degrees is very cold (opinion) while a person from Florida might be shivering (fact). I know, from the medical knowledge that we now possess, that I am going to die someday. Now I don’t mind dying, but I just don’t want to be there when it happens – I will die, that is a fact. Now here is a new phrase. It may be "logical and reasonable” to assume, since it is a fact that I am going to die, that I also might live a long time based on information that is medically known about me. One could also argue that I could die by accident at any moment. So, me living a long time based on my medical information could be somewhat of a myth. Does all of this sound confusing? Yes, because it is. We get all of our information on different levels of myth, opinion, fact and truth. It is not impossible to get various amounts of all four when discussing anything. We get all our information from different groups who represent different things and have different agendas. More knowledge and more education will help you cut through the difference between myth and reality, fact and fiction.
-Leonard Renier