Ideologies and their traps - Zizek on the construction of truth and lie

**(This post is annoying and possibly difficult to read, just as a heads up)**

I think over the years it's gotten more and more important to me to observe my surroundings critically, including myself. And while it's important to do so in order to figure out the truth of a matter, it's sometimes hard to remind myself that truth is not a rigid thing. It's bendy, stretchy, weiiird. 

One of the most important lessons to learn, and to always keep in mind, is that facts that may be true, can be used in manners that facilitate an untrue environment. Our minds are designed to filter the world through our own interpretations. We can't access all of the available information and press it into a single true narrative. There's always some facts we will leave out or need to filter through. This means that we will choose the facts that best fit our goal/the story that we want to tell. 

I think Zizek during one of his talks portrays this idea in a pretty way. He explains that if he wanted to, he could write a book proving that Hitler was justified in believing that the jews were emitting too much influence over Germany. And factually speaking, one could back this argument, if they looked at the jewish population in Germany at the time and were able to show that they were quite present in a lot of important branches within the country. 

Now you might have the intuition to say "Then we just need more data points. We need more facts in order to.." And I would agree with you. But that assertion requires you to admit that it's not just the facts that you care about. It's never just the facts. There's something deeper driving you that compels you to gather the facts in a manner that fits into the way in which you view the world. We want facts to accommodate our ideology and our feelings (so much for facts don't care about your feelings, Mr. Shapiro).

And I think he expands on this in a very important manner. In the moment you say "Then we just need more data points. You're wrong because of XYZ" You are putting yourself into dangerous territory, because you're putting yourself on the level of the person that is making making the claim. You are taking their argument seriously and thus treating it as an equal one, when in reality the argument that tries to justify Hitlers actions is already framed in such a way that forces us to accept a certain facet of reality that may not even be true. The facts themselves have a certain shape to us. They aren't simply facts. Even if they objectively represent a part of reality, they are formulated or laid out in ways that presuppose a certain engagement that we are forced to have with the fact, just based on what the fact itself is. 

Zizek explains this amazingly by using anti-semitism as an example. Some get confronted with anti-semitism and try to explain it by referring to some social construct. Some see it as a consequence of people of a certain religion genuinely causing harm. But do you see what's happening here? In either instance, the objective fact of anti-semitism existing is shaping the natural response humans will have towards it, just based on the fact of what the fact is. So the fact itself deeply shapes our ideological response to it. Not just in a subjective manner, but an objective manner. This response is something we need to keep in mind. 

The best lies can be constructed by aligning the correct facts. And sometimes, the truth we hide is the truth we seek. Be mindful of this. Be mindful of your own mind. It's not just other people that do this to you (which is especially concerning within large-scale media), it's you.

If you've actually read this far, I'm super happy about that. And if there's anything that doesn't make sense to you, that you'd like to critisize or otherwise mention, please do so. 

I hope you're having a great day :)

Reference (please watch with subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpAj-v_OjcQ