Reflecting about news reports around the world this past week, I was thinking about “truth.” Two historic quotations came to mind. The first, from the American writer William Faulkner (1897- 1962): “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth.”
The second, from Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975), the German historian and philosopher, who became interested in how the most outrageous lies get a political hold over people, ever since Nazi lies about the Jews and intellectuals drove her from Berlin in 1933 after her arrest by the Gestapo.
Hannah Arendt wrote: “This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such people, deprived of the power to think and judge, are, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such people, you can do whatever you want.”
When people lose the ability to be critical observers and critical thinkers, they become unable to distinguish between facts and falsehoods. They can no longer recognize “the big lie.”
“The big lie” is a great distortion of truth. It was the propaganda technique, coined by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) in his 1925 book Mein Kampf. There he wrote: “The great masses of the people… will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.”
Hitler stressed that if a known falsehood was repeated regularly and treated as true, “the big lie” would be taken for granted and no longer questioned.
Confronting today’s “big lies,” we all need to exercise critical thinking skills: observing and asking critical questions. What is the source of the information? Is it a reliable source? People who spread fake news and “alternative facts” sometimes create web pages, newspaper stories, or AI-generated images that look official, but are not.
I very much believe the old Latin proverb Veritas Vincit (“Truth Prevails”). But it can only happen if we all work together.
What sources of news can one trust? A credible news report will include a variety of facts, quotes from bonafide experts, official statistics, or detailed and corroborated eye-witness accounts from people on the scene. If these are missing, one should question the report’s truth and accuracy. Does the evidence prove that something definitely happened? Or, have the facts been selected or “twisted” to back up a particular fabricated viewpoint?
As a good friend observed this past week: “Now, as a major diplomatic situation unfolds, Brian Burch, the American ambassador to the Vatican, has chosen to ignore Pope Leo’s public declaration that the sovereignty of Venezuela must be restored and respected. Instead, he asserts that the Catholic Church and the United States are ‘on the same page’ regarding America’s invasion of Venezuela.”
Ultimately, people will come to the realization that denying the truth doesn’t change the facts. But sometimes the process goes painfully slow.
I often think about the observation of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), the Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist: “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
- Jack
Another Voice 
Jack –
Thanks for sharing this week on a topic of major importance to both of us!
I believe I recognize a paragraph from a “good friend” but of course it could come from any of a number of your good friends! It would appear that the US struggle for truth and observance of laws and the Constitution will only intensify in the coming months as we approach the mid-term elections. Perhaps my next steps will begin with “Strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”
Joe
On another note I must tell you that interest in Stewards of the Sacred is picking up as inroads are being made with bishops and USCCB Departments. We are moving into an experimentation phase where we hope to use the Synodality model to gather parish cemetery and various ministerial/teaching offices in dioceses to engage on the topic of lay ministerial service on behalf of parish and diocesan cemeteries. If I did not send you the PDF of the final document, let me know and I will email it.
J
From: Another Voice comment-reply@wordpress.com Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2026 1:09 AM To: jbsankovich@gmail.com Subject: BEING CRITICAL OBSERVERS & CRITICAL THINKERS
Reflecting about news reports around the world this past week, I was thinking about “truth.” Two historic quotations came to mind. The first, from the American writer William Faulkner (1897-…
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Another Voice
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BEING CRITICAL OBSERVERS & CRITICAL THINKERS
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Reflecting about news reports around the world this past week, I was thinking about “truth.” Two historic quotations came to mind. The first, from the American writer William Faulkner (1897- 1962): “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth.”
The second, from Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975), the German historian and philosopher, who became interested in how the most outrageous lies get a political hold over people, ever since Nazi lies about the Jews and intellectuals drove her from Berlin in 1933 after her arrest by the Gestapo.
Hannah Arendt wrote: “This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such people, deprived of the power to think and judge, are, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such people, you can do whatever you want.”
When people lose the ability to be critical observers and critical thinkers, they become unable to distinguish between facts and falsehoods. They can no longer recognize “the big lie.”
“The big lie” is a gre
Many thanks Joe! And best wishes for you!
Thank you for this reflection both very informational and so very inspiring!!!
I do hope that Gandhi is right this time too – but I am having my doubts. Thanks for the positive word. No theology in here, Jack. You are losing your touch. I have a podcast you might enjoy. I am working up an intro to it for my “friends.” Thanks, as always.
Carl Scheider
Thanks Carl.
The pursuit of truth is our ethical responsibility – a bitof theological ethics😉
For the sake of ownership and author’s rights, I confess that not only did i translate your essay (with google) but I shared it with half the country in Honduras.
Every Thursday evening I participate in a radio program with Fr Ismael Moreno, sj, known as Padre Melo, on the Jesuit radio station Radio Progreso. Radioprogresohn.net
It is at 8 pm Honduran time, probably around 4 am in Belgium..Honduras has had elections in November and the country elected more or less a right wing party connected to a previous president and drug capo. The government of Xiomara Castro inherited a country stripped bare and weak, in four years she showed poor judgment with a lot of nepotism (typical) and inverting in a few areas closer to family interests but abandoning large areas of the country. The American embassy basically threatened to overthrow the government if the right group wasn’t elected, so “the big lie” wins again. The poor choose the one who is most likely to hit them the hardest.
It would seem we have collectively taken many steps backwards, Canada is not exempt from this backwards slide as environmental objectives are modified to favour exploration and extraction of minerals and gas (fracking).
For my penance??
Cheers
Thanks but I wish you would check with me first.
Dear Dr. Jack, you still have the touch! Observing, thinking deeply, and writing qualify as theology in a God-drenched creation, from the Big Bang right down to the looming elections this year : no doubt in my mind. Theology, as I was taught, is a subset of philosophy, perhaps even its queen. Literature, and the act of writing, YOUR writing, is thoughtful language in action, your mind to my mind, not so much a meld as a perichoresis of different perspectives on comprehending the Whole, inasmuch as our brains — at this stage of evolution — can muster.
To paraphrase Albert Schweitzer in “The Quest” 120 years ago, Jesus the Incarnate One calls to us, Come with Me, and look… when you do this, remember Me. We learn who He is for us, now, in how we care for one another in our own time when we follow Jesus, this Yeshua who invited us to learn from Him, His way. I think one of the key lessons of history is that we are not so different from the figures of the past whom we think shaped our present, and that includes Jesus the Human One who Is, and even Pilate who asked “What is truth,” a line to which the bound and scourged Jesus chose not to answer at that time, still waiting.
IOW, we are still evolving, haven’t yet “arrived.” Epiphanies surround us in Creation, the First Scripture, if only we find and test the language that conveys the marvels in the midst of our miseries, mistakes and tribulations. We are not alone: the Incarnate Word says we are not left orphans.
Many very sincere thanks Dan.
We move along and learn on the way.
Jack