Speak the Truth
Live Not By Lies1 is a bestselling book published by Rod Dreher in 2020 in which he warns that the current soft totalitarianism in America presages a turn towards full totalitarianism. He reports the warnings of many who lived under the oppression of the Soviet Union in the twentieth century that don’t understand why Americans (and citizens of other Western democracies) can’t see the steady erosion of liberty in their countries.
In his introduction, Dreher summarizes Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s final message to the Russian people upon his exile to the West, an essay entitled Live Not By Lies. Solzhenitsyn said that the foundation of totalitarianism is an ideology of lies and depends on a people’s fear of challenging the lies. “Our way must be: Never knowingly support lies!”
Dreher continues his summary of Solzhenitsyn: “You may not have the strength to stand up in public and say what you really believe, but you can at least refuse to affirm what you do not believe. You may not be able to overthrow totalitarianism , but you can find within yourself and your community the means to live in the dignity of truth.” (Introduction, page xiv)
Let each of us individually, and in the communities in which we live, including this TruthPursuit Substack community, choose to Live Not by Lies.
In order to not live by lies, we must know the truth. Here is a sampling of Truths that, in our opinion, we must believe against the lies in our current culture. Much could be written about each of these truths and we will be writing posts on some of them in the future. For now, the sole purpose is to briefly identify a preliminary list of Truths that we must be willing to believe (and speak if we can) against the lies.
Many of these truths are scientifically based Truths that have always been true. True, that is, until an alternate narrative is implemented that requires the people to confess something different. Read what happened to Winston Smith when he found himself in the dreaded Room 101.
“You are a slow learner, Winston,” said O’Brien softly. “How can I help it?” he blubbered. Two and two are four.” “Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five.”2
Other Truths are true because they are part of the religious and cultural traditions of mankind. They are factually correct and their power is in the social consensus they have. Traditionally, when a few people express differing ideas, those unorthodox ideas are dismissed. That is until those unorthodox ideas are promoted by those with influence as an alternative narrative. We see these alternative narratives enforced in totalitarian societies, where only the officially permitted view is ever spoken publicly, or even privately.
Why do totalitarian societies have labor camps, struggle sessions and Lubyanka basements? Once again George Orwell gives us the answer.
“And why do you imagine that we bring people to this place?”
“To make them confess.”
“No, that is not the reason. Try again.”
“To punish them.”
“No!” exclaimed O’Brien. “Not merely to extract your confession, nor to punish you. Shall I tell you why we have brought you here? To cure you! To make you sane!”3
We will now list eight Truths that we believe must be spoken in the face of the lies and false narratives that we face in our current society, a society that seems bent on descending into totalitarianism. We lead with the ones that are pure scientific fact and move onto those supported by an historical religious and social consensus. All eight are distinguished by an all-out assault on them by “government experts,” the Leftstream media and radical activists designed to convince us of the opposing lies. In some of these cases, if the evidence for the Truth isn’t compelling enough for you (though we obviously think it is), the all-out assault on them alone is compelling evidence of their truth.
TRUTH: There are two sexes
Every person is born with either XX chromosomes and a vagina (female) or with XY chromosomes and a penis (male). There is no such thing as “sex assigned at birth” and it is a lie to say that sex is “assigned” rather than inherent. For all of human history, until the current craze of lying about this, two clearly identifiable sexes was recognized as empirical truth.
TRUTH: There are two genders
Every baby that is born with XX chromosomes and a vagina has both the sex and gender of female. Babies with XY chromosomes and a penis have both the sex and gender of male. Again, for all of human history the two clearly identifiable sexes were also recognized as the two genders.
Whereas sex is a biological term that is 100% empirically determined, in the current day, “gender” is sometimes conflated with “personality.”4 There are wide variation in personality types; with potentially as much variation as there are people. In the traditional definition of gender there are two, corresponding to the two sexes. If you discuss gender with someone who conflates gender with personality, the discussion must start with the definition of terms. Better to stick to the traditional definition and agree to disagree on the definition.
TRUTH: Your child will NOT kill herself if you don’t allow her to transition to the opposite sex
The suicide rate for trans kids is higher than the suicide rate for children denied transition. The threat of your child committing suicide is the most egregious emotional blackmail line ever devised.
TRUTH: Your body parts do align with your true gender and butchering your body won’t change you
While the Trans community claims that your gender is not determined by your body parts, they insist that trans people must undergo sex-change operations in order to transition. Your sexual equipment does not determine your sex but you must surgically change it to be your authentic sex. (No one ever accused the Left of being consistent.)5
TRUTH: The whole “climate apocalypse” agenda is a hoax
There is no climate emergency and CO2 is not the cause of any emergency. The world is not ending in 12 years (counted from whatever date this proclamation happens to be made). The actual purpose of the climate emergency hoax is to provide a reason to implement “solutions” that usher in global governance and population reduction. Are there human practices that are harmful to the environment (e.g. – the islands of plastic trash floating in the oceans)? Yes. Are they apocalyptic? No.
TRUTH: The Covid Pandemic was a hoax and the so-called vaccines are neither safe nor effective
The man-made Covid-19 virus was never a threat to any except the small number of people who had multiple comorbidities that made them susceptible to Covid, the flu and other respiratory diseases. This is the same group that accounts for the flu deaths in other years. Virtually all of the policies implemented to combat the pandemic (e.g. masking, lockdowns, etc.) have been shown to have been wrong.
TRUTH: The January 6, 2021, protest was not an insurrection
There were an estimated 80-120,000 people at the “Stop the Steal” rally (at which President Trump spoke) and maybe a couple thousand involved in the riot at the capital. The crowd was not armed for a government takeover (they didn’t bring any guns) and all the milling around inside the capitol indicates the lack of coordination of the protestors. Despite the non-stop claims of “insurrection” by the Leftstream media (which claim is necessary to weaponize the protest against President Trump), January 6 was little more than a protest at which some protestors rioted and did some property damage.
With over 95% of protestors not involved in the riot, the January 6 protest was dramatically more peaceful than the “mostly peaceful” riots in the 2020 “summer of love” in cities across America in which dozens of police were injured, billions of dollars of damage were the result of arson, police cars and government buildings were burned and an anarchic “autonomous zone” was created in Seattle.
TRUTH: The 2020 Election was not the most secure in American history
There still remain many questions – more votes than voters in PA, unexplained boxes of ballots pulled out from under tables, online vote tallies switching in real time, ejection of Republican poll workers while Democrat poll workers continued to count, etc., etc. – that have not been answered by Democrats and election officials of both parties. There are still many unanswered questions about the 2020 election, so that the level of fraud is not yet able to be determined but the one statement that we know is true is that it was not the most secure in American history.6
We’d love to hear your responses to these eight Truths. Maybe you disagree with the inclusion of one or two of them. Let us know your views in the comments or email us at TruthPursuit.substack.com. Your comments will inform our decisions about which topics to explore in more detail in future posts.
Live Not By Lies, (2020, Sentinel Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
1984 by George Orwell (many editions available)
ibid
Jordan Peterson describes this conflation on Joe Rogan (#1208, November 29, 2018)
Nancy Pearcey’s book Love Thy Body (2018, Baker Books) is a great resource on Sexuality
This is not a statement that Trump won. That remains to be seen. This is a statement that there are so many irregularities that have not been investigated or adjudicated that it is clearly not true that this was “the most secure” election in history. This is a prime example of where the monotonous repetition of a statement by the Leftstream media in the face of the evidence is evidence that the claim of “most secure” is not true.