Living through most of the 20th century has made me acquainted with the power of words to distort reality, twist the truth, and make people do what in their right mind they would not do, including things that could harm them, often tragically.

Was it not the words of Hitler in his 1930s public rantings that roused Germans to action that led to the killing of millions of people in a world war?

The trouble with words is made forcibly clear in the film “We Are Not Alone” in which an innocent man (played by Paul Muni) accused of murder and facing death by hanging says, in a moment he steals to speak in his defense: “Words can be true – and still have no truth in them.”

The mindless and often malicious use of words can make what is false appear true, what is fake appear real, what is wrong seem right, and what is right seem wrong – a misuse of words that is familiar to anyone whose brain has not been washed by those cunning enough to make information serve as propaganda, the kind frequently sending innocent people to jail or to an early grave.

Speaking truthfully – “telling it like it is,” even over intimidation – is a necessary part of fighting falsehood. Sounding off with truth punches holes in what is fake, dishonest, and insincere. Silence, let us always remember, gives consent to actions that can harm people. Time is past-due in today’s America for the “silent majority” to shout.

Who by this late date are not aware of the leftist hatred of reality, including what defines human life? Who haven’t noticed that defending human life by speaking the truth about it has become “hate speech” to leftists? Aren’t the real finger-pointing haters those who stand with their backs to a mirror they should be facing? Are they not the ones who despise what is most precious to human beings? That list is topped by the right to live and the freedom to think and act according to one’s inner lights. That is a requirement that calls for a respect for human life that leftists do not possess, indicating a profound self-loathing that words can’t hide.

Not even a dispassionate, neutral, middle-ground approach to dealing with the most important issues of human life can penetrate to the core of what is essentially a spiritual matter.

When Pontius Pilate asked the prisoner Jesus Christ, who claimed to bear witness to the truth, “What is the truth?” he, like today’s liberals, expected an answer in words. But if words can’t even explain what life is, let alone the many intangibles that science chronically fumbles with outside its field, how was an adequate answer to Pilate’s question possible in words?

Words that convey factual information are no match in effectiveness for words that spread false information and lies. Applied to life’s greatest puzzles, words at best provide hints not solutions. Blind to the spiritual dimension of human life, Pilate relegated Jesus to a humiliating death for lack of “the right words.”

Though words are essential to human life, it is equally essential that they be connected to the truth about the first things regarding the spiritual as well as  the material wellbeing of humans. This is beyond the power of words to handle perfectly, as with trying to express the joy of having a baby or describing a beautiful sunset or sunrise. Evidence is plentiful that total reliance on words for essential information gives mischief-makers and rebels their ticket to scheme and act against the public.

Where the connection to a divine absolute is missing, words can be used to justify any atrocity. That connection is faith in God, not in Man, a link that provides the needed supplement to human inadequacy in acting consistently in the best interest of the public. It is a familiar link, even to agnostics who suddenly rely on a faith in God when facing imminent death. Leaders who forget the shortcomings and deficiencies of being human, including the wisest among them, make their own traps into which they frequently fall.

Failure to resist the dark side of human nature continues to stain the otherwise great track of human history with the spilled blood and the countless loss of life of innocent people. In the end, no one gains any real benefit and happiness by disregarding the dark side of human life instead of resisting it full strength, a habit that needs to begin in childhood and maintained through life. Yet today we see heads of state and religious leaders continue to aid and abet the insane attack against the civilization that led our ancestors out of the savagery and brutality of past ages, thinking they are promoting progress instead of regression.

To the point: Swallowing without thinking the words that routinely parade in politics disposes people to acceptance of party propaganda. And such inattention to reality tragically misses the fact that truth is not political, it does not take sides, it is independent of opinions, it does not change or bow to political passion.

All who believe that truth is irrelevant in today’s world need to be ready for a sobering lesson in realty. All who deal in falsehood and in hiding the truth are surely aware that the words they won’t divulge to the public could swiftly end their work and make people remember that it is the power of truth, not of words, that sets us free of tyranny [ref. John 8:32].

Image: Picryl / public domain