I guess I just feel like
Nobody’s honest
Nobody’s true
Everyone’s lying
To make it on through
I guess I just feel like
I’m the same way, too
~ John Mayer
When I was a teenager, I met a strange little man at church. “Richard” was a quiet, mysterious, Bible-carrying believer. He probably wasn’t old, but in 1982 everyone was old to me. He had a peace about him. He spoke softly through his smile. One day, after a Wednesday night service, I sat down with him and questioned him about his faith. He told me to get close to the Lord because one day, it will be the only truth there is. He closed his eyes as if he was viewing the future on a movie screen in his eyes. “People won’t believe what they hear with their own ears,” he said softly. “They won’t believe what they see with their own eyes.” “Truth,” he said, “will be whatever a person decides it is.”
I thought he was crazy. I couldn’t imagine such a world. And yet, here we are.
An ER doctor had to quit social media because people were posting about the COVID-19 “hoax.” They confidently claimed that no one is dying and that hospitals are empty. He read the posts after finishing a 12-hour shift where several of his patients died terrible and lonely deaths. Exhausted and mentally drained from his day, he made the mistake of engaging internet trolls who dismissed his personal experience and questioned whether he was even a doctor at all.
There is very little we can believe today, and it’s going to get worse. Technology is advancing fast. Deepfake is video technology that is both fascinating and frightening. It manipulates what you see so subtly that you don’t even realize you’re being visually lied to. Some news outlets have already been busted for clever editing, but this technology is so good, only a professional eye will be able to spot the deception. Trust? It should put on a milk carton somewhere because it’s gone missing. I already doubt most pictures I see as filtered and photoshopped. One time, I called out a friend who posted something clearly doctored on Facebook. Their response? “Yeah, but it’s still funny.”
No, it’s not.
It’s a lie.
Dear reader, I’m so tired, so weary from all of the deception. I guess I just feel like…I’m leaning harder on God, the Author of truth. It’s no surprise. I was warned by a strange little man in a church basement so many years ago.
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