Facts come to the rescue in the age of gaslighting

One extreme example of "alternative facts" might be the speech Russian President Vladimir Putin gave last week, declaring four regions of Ukraine to be part of Russia by fiat. In justifying this land grab by citing a sham referendum conducted at gunpoint, Putin added yet another egregious episode to his stream of false narratives about Ukraine.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Distressing world events and the reactive media conversation may have you feeling cynical these days. Or you may prefer what comfort can be found in a more stoic attitude.

Either way, the names of those philosophical reactions date to the age of the ancient Greek philosophers, including one named Diogenes. He died in 323 BCE, and his name remains associated with the Cynics and the Stoics as well. Yet his name survives to our time mostly because legend says he walked the Earth in search of an honest man.

You may have seen him on this hunt, rendered by classical sculptors or more likely caricatured by contemporary cartoonists. He usually has a long beard and a lamp he holds up high as he peers into the murky darkness. In either guise, he has long symbolized the endless search for truth.

In our time, that search is as complicated as ever. Even the idea of truth is disputed; we say the word aloud and add air quotes, or an ironic tone of voice or a smirk. The term has been blithely bandied about by the likes of, for example, the so-called "Truthers" of two decades ago who insisted that no airplanes had crashed into any buildings on Sept. 11, 2001."...