Right now, I am re-reading George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. It was published on June 8, 1949, as Orwell’s ninth and final completed book. Thematically, it centers on totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people. A friend suggested that it should be reprinted today with the title Twenty Twenty-Six.

The most famous Orwellian sentences in Nineteen Eighty-Four are: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength” and “Big Brother is watching you.”

Researchers and writers in every discipline today are finding it increasingly difficult to effectively communicate in an environment in which findings are distorted or ignored to serve an ideological agenda. Arguments rage at school board meetings, for example, about what can and what cannot be discussed or taught, and a new report from PEN America, the non-profit organization founded in 1922 that protects free expression, human rights, and literature, more than 3,700 unique books were banned during the 2024-2025 school year, more than double the number of titles PEN America tracked in the 2021-2022 school year when it began counting.

Teachers in schools today hesitate to tackle topics like racism and socioeconomic or LGBTQ+ issues in their classrooms for fear of being targeted by conservative parents and losing their jobs.

Overwhelmingly, book banners continue to target stories by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. But school boards today are also banning books with “uncomfortable” interpretations of reality, such as the Holocaust book Maus, the Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman. Surprisingly even Mark Twain’s classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has now been banned for racial slurs. Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel about a white lawyer’s defense of a black man against a false rape charge by a white woman, has now been repeatedly banned in schools.

During and between his terms as president of the United States, the incumbent president has made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims. Fact-checkers at The Washington Post documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term, an average of 21 per day.

Back in 2020, when the 45th president launched his audacious lie yet about his “stolen election” many commentators cited Hannah Arendt’s observations about political lying. Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975), the German historian and philosopher became interested in how the most outrageous lies get a political hold over people, ever since Nazi lies about the Jews, Communists, and intellectuals drove her from Berlin in 1933 after her arrest by the Gestapo. She 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 a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want.”

Well, our contemporary world is experiencing a crisis in facts and truth, which also contributes to distrust in various political and religious institutions. The situation has become more complicated with AI generated false images that are proclaimed as genuine.

The Israeli medievalist Yuval Noah Harari (born 1976) urges voters to make artificial intelligence the main issue in the upcoming 2026 U.S. midterm elections. Harari warns that artificial intelligence poses a unique threat because it is the first technology that can make decisions, independent of human beings, and generate new ideas. 

Democracy relies on conversation, but AI can hack human language and manipulate public debates.

Theologian John Dominic Crossan (born 1934) said it very well in his 2014 book Paul as Pharisee: A Vision of Post-civilization: “We now live, verbally and visually, nationally and internationally, in a world of smiling lies, alternative facts, fake news, aspirations masquerading as interpretations, and conspiracy theories where truth is at best a personal opinion or at worst an obsolete artifact.”

The key question is how do we know what is true and what is not true when watching the news, listening to elected officials, listening to religious leaders, or using social media? Conflicting messages bombard us every day.

Here, below, are my suggestions for truth-seeking and truth-speaking:

(1)  A helpful tool today, when checking the accuracy of what one finds on social media and news websites is “Snopes.com.” Founded in 1994, Snopes is a reliable resource to research and debunk urban legends, fake pictures, etc. I use it to check Facebook observations. Another helpful website is “FactCheck.org.” It is very helpful checking news reports about the positions and statements of current political candidates. I use both to check the veracity of Facebook reports.

(2) We are not expected to have all the answers on our own. As we look for truth, we can turn to trusted sources for guidance. That may mean a trusted mentor, a well-informed friend, an insightful public figure respected for her or his integrity, or a respected book using primary source material. We need trustworthy speakers. They need our support and collaboration.

(3) When truth becomes simply a personal or a group fabrication, the understanding of reality is turned upside down. Discrimination and cruelty become the norm and compassion disappears. Extremist websites and groups gather more supporters. Self-advancement at any cost becomes the new virtue, and self-advancement today is politically very “in.”

(4) When truth becomes simply a personal or group fabrication, God can become part of that fabrication, becoming a religious figure who condones and blesses liars and tyrants. Far removed from Jesus of Nazareth who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

(5) We have a responsibility to be not just truth-seekers but courageous truth-speakers.

 

Jack

Dr. John Alonzo Dick – Historical Theologian

Email: jadleuven@gmail.com