Mr. Gary Horton in his March 8 column asserts that the divide that exists in America is a “political” divide, which he asserts is attributable to the divide between those who believe in “fact” and those who believe in “faith and even fiction.”
To support this he cites without context the Rudy Giuliani statement that “truth is not truth” and Kellyanne Conway’s statement that “shocked logical thinking America” that “we have alternative facts.”
Interestingly, in an opinion piece about truth, Horton mistakenly asserts Ms. Conway was President Donald Trump’s “combative press secretary” when in fact she was his campaign manager, the first female campaign manager to run a successful presidential campaign, as even a simple Wikipedia search reveals. So much for facts.
What both of these comments referred to is that there can be disputes as to what are the facts. Indeed our entire judicial system, both criminal and civil, exists to resolve factual disputes between the parties to litigation. I practiced law for the better part of 50 years, doing business and real property litigation. I tried hundreds of trials before both judges and juries, where each party had their “alternative facts,” each party had their “truth,” and out of thousands of witnesses I only recall three who lied. Ultimately the facts were determined not by one side or the other but by the judge or jury.
As for “proven truth,” perhaps Mr. Hoton can tell me if 2 plus 2 equals 4, or if math is a white supremacist construct and there are “other ways of looking” at the answer, say it equals 5. How about if he believes a biological female can become a man and as a result men can give birth, and a biological man can become a woman, so that a woman can impregnate a man? How about a person who asserts that their pronouns are they/them when of course every person is a singular, not a plural, entity.
Finally, it is clear from the article that Mr. Horton at a minimum questions the existence of the Judeo-Christian God. Perhaps in his next piece he will share with us how he arrives at that “truth.” Perhaps he will explain to us how the universe was created, why we are conscious beings, and what constitutes our mind, just for beginners. Then he can move on to who are the “extremist evangelicals” he is so concerned about. Are they the people who murdered more than 100 million people in the 20th Century? Perhaps it was bands of roving Baptists, the ones who believe that their pastors should be males. I do find myself wondering if the various religious sects have the right, in Mr. Horton’s view, to establish such rules for themselves, and how that fits with his view of “truth.”
I anxiously await this disclosure of truth according to Horton.
Stephen Maseda
Santa Clarita
