Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfe-man
Respectfully, in my experience, there is no such thing as an actual “truth” when it comes to differing opinions concerning a given set of facts. I have been a commercial litigator for 27 years and in every case I have ever been involved with, my client believed it was absolutely right and that the other side was absolutely wrong. The opposition always believes the exact same thing, even though both sides are operating with the same set of facts.
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The following comment is about the practice of law, but law is a reflection of real life, not something esoteric, so the practice of law has something to teach us about life. In fact getting to the truth, not winning or losing, is the purpose of the American legal system. Even when two sides disagree about a case, there is still a truth at the heart of all legal cases. Most lawyers aren't looking for that truth. Their client tells them a story and they want to spin the client's story in a way that they think will be convincing to the judge and jury. Their goal is to win. This is a weak starting point. It's smarter to spend time looking for the truth at the heart of the case that explains the rest of the case. Person A did this, and therefore that happened. The truth is revealed by the case documents and testimony. When you have the truth you can put together a case that revolves around the truth, even if your client is not in a favorable position. On closing, judge and jury will be more convinced if the story you tell revolves around the truth at the center of the case. So yes, two different stories will be told, but there will be one truth at the center if the lawyers are acting in accordance with the purpose of the judicial system: to find the truth.
Coming back to our topic, there are truths at the heart of COVID-19 and many aspects of it are black and white. We are either in a pandemic or we aren't. Either more than 100,000 people have died of COVID-19 in this country or they have not. Either a mask can help prevent the virus from being spread to the air when someone coughs, or it can't. Either the number of infections is rising rapidly in Florida and Texas, or it isn't. These are all yes/no FACTS, not debatable ISSUES. Granted, the truth may change as new scientific knowledge is discovered, but there can be no truth without a search for that knowledge.
Then there is the interpretation of the facts and what to do with them. Knowing that infections are rising rapidly in Florida, how should individuals and authorities respond? Here's where social and political values come into the picture. It's a very grave error to allow political values to cloud the fact finding that is essential for making rational decisions in a crisis, especially when millions of lives are at stake.