What Happened to Truth in Politics

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]I have for some time been pondering uh an important aspect I guess of the work that I do of trying to communicate to you as best as I can about issues that matter to me and to present an honest interpretation of events.

[00:00:22]And this has brought me to start to wonder about what is truth in politics and does it matter? Um is it is it facts? Is it spin? Is it is it kind of whatever version of reality survived the next news cycle?

[00:00:43]um before being crashed before or beneath a pile of outrage thumbnails and men and women women yelling in Sky news cameras like they've just discovered that the world is not necessarily flat.

[00:01:00]Politics used to at least pretend to care about consistency.

[00:01:07]But now we live in an era where politicians can say one thing on Monday, deny it on Tuesday, blame the media on Wednesday, and by Thursday their supporters are insisting it never happened at all. This is the way politics is these days. And somehow this is considered normal democratic discourse rather than a kind of I guess national gas league. So today I wanted to talk about truth in politics. I want to talk about why it matters, why it is disappearing, and why voters themselves sometimes reward dishonesty while claiming they want at the same time integrity.

[00:01:54]So politics has always included spin. We all know that. So So let's be fair.

[00:02:00]Politics has never been pure. It's been murky. It's been disingenuous as everything. Every every political movement in history has used persuasion, selective framing, emotional appeals, and messaging designed to influence public opinion. None of that is new.

[00:02:20]Politicians simplify complicated issues because voters do not have time to to read 400 page policy documents. None of us do. Media organizations reduce nuance into conflict because conflict attracts audiences. Social media rewards outrage because outrage keeps people scrolling while pioneers quietly monetize civilization collapsing in real time.

[00:02:51]But there is a difference between persuasion and deception.

[00:02:56]There is a difference between presenting your values positively and deliberately misleading the public.

[00:03:05]And increasingly that line is disappearing. And I find this extremely distressing.

[00:03:15]So it's kind of like the death of accountability.

[00:03:19]One of the biggest problems in modern politics is that consequences for dishonesty have weakened dramatically.

[00:03:26]They just don't appear to be relevant anymore. A politician can make a claim that is objectively false, be fact checked immediately as we see on CNN and elsewhere and still suffer no political damage whatsoever.

[00:03:44]So the question is why? Because modern political identity is emotional first and factual second. People will often do not tend to ask is this true? Instead they ask does this make my side feel strong? Does this hurt the people I dislike? And does this confirm what I already believe? Truth therefore as a result of all of this becomes tribal. And once politics becomes tribal, facts become negotiable.

[00:04:22]You can see this everywhere. We see this in our social media feeds. We see that on the news. We see it on Sky News in particular.

[00:04:30]For example, climate change denial despite overwhelming scientific evidence. Claims that elections are stolen without proof.

[00:04:40]constant culture war outrage designed to distract from policy failures, media ecosystems that selectively amplify misinformation because it simply drives engagement.

[00:04:56]And the terrifying part is that many political actors know exactly what they are doing and they capitalize on this.

[00:05:05]This is not confusion.

[00:05:08]This is actually strategy.

[00:05:11]So media and the performance of truth are a significant issue in this problem.

[00:05:19]The the media specifically and particularly the mainstream media and other media outlets play a role here.

[00:05:26]They define the way we should be viewing our media. But I need to qualify that by saying that not all media, but a significant part of modern political commentary has become performance rather than journalism. And we see that all the time, particularly on Sky News.

[00:05:49]Instead of informing audiences, many outlets now exist to emotionally validate them. Again, this is what we see particularly from right-wing media in my view. If viewers are angry, the job becomes keeping them angry. If viewers are fearful, the job becomes keeping them fearful.

[00:06:13]Because really, and this is important, fear is profitable.

[00:06:22]Outrage is profitable. Division, as we see all the time, is profitable.

[00:06:29]A calm and informed public does not clearly does not click nearly as much as someone screaming that civilization will end because a supermarket acknowledged the existence of diversity.

[00:06:45]And politicians understand the ecosystem perfectly.

[00:06:49]Some politicians are not trying to govern anymore. They are trying to trend.

[00:06:56]They generate controversy because controversy creates attention. Attention creates relevance. Relevance creates power.

[00:07:07]Even bad publicity becomes politically useful.

[00:07:13]So I guess this brings us to why truth still matters.

[00:07:17]Now some people will say politics has always been dirty so why does this matter? And I think that's a fair statement really, but it matters because democracy depends on shared reality.

[00:07:33]You cannot solve housing afford affordability if people are told migrants are solely responsible while ignoring tax policy, wage stagnation, and decades of planning failures. You cannot address climate change if scientific evidence is treated as ideological opinion. Again, what we see all the time from Sky News. You cannot build trust in institutions. If every inconvenient fact becomes fake news.

[00:08:07]Once truth itself becomes partisan, democracy begins to fracture because eventually citizens stop believing anything. And when people stop believing anything, they become vulnerable to anyone promising certainty, strength or simple answers. Allah Donald Trump and also one nation.

[00:08:35]History has shown repeatedly where that leads. Usually somewhere in somewhere involving nationalism, uh, scapegoating, and men standing behind suspiciously large flags.

[00:08:51]Humanity does love repeating itself.

[00:08:54]It's like watching a species continue to touch the hot stove while insisting this time the stove respects freedom.

[00:09:02]So this brings us to I guess the role of voters. The role that the voters play in determining what actually does matter and what actually is the truth. But v voters also have responsibility.

[00:09:20]We cannot demand honesty while rewarding outrage. We cannot complain about political division while sharing misinformation because it emotionally satisfies us. We can and we cannot criticize politicians for manipulation if we refuse to question narratives coming from our own side. And I in my work endeavor to confront all issues no matter which side of politics they are.

[00:09:50]So this brings me to the next point I guess critical critical thinking cannot only apply apply to political opponents.

[00:09:59]If truth matters, it has to matter consistently.

[00:10:04]That means being willing to admit when your side gets something wrong, when evidence changes, and when complex problems do not have easy ideological solutions.

[00:10:17]It is important to note that this is not weakness. This is maturity.

[00:10:22]So where does this lead us? Truth in politics is not about perfection.

[00:10:31]Politicians are human beings, flawed, ambitious, strategic human beings.

[00:10:38]Some are decent, some are opportunistic.

[00:10:42]Some appear to believe honesty is a communicable disease. Some are terrible.

[00:10:49]And I can go on and on and on about who they are. But democracy only functions if truth still has value.

[00:10:58]Not partisan truth, not tribal truth, actual truth, evidence, reality, accountability.

[00:11:09]And may the real question and maybe I should say the real question is not whether politicians lie. Of course some do. Far too many do. The real question is why have so many people decided they no longer care?

[00:11:28]Why is that? I care. I care on my channel. I care because I'm speaking to you about it today.

[00:11:38]Look, if you enjoyed this discussion, if you've got something to say about this, I suggest you subscribe to my channel, leave a comment below, and let me know what you think.

[00:11:49]Do you do you think truth still matters in modern politics or has politics become entirely about narrative and emotion?

[00:12:01]Because at this point half the political class seems less interested in governing than auditioning for a permanent role in outrage television.

[00:12:13]You can just see that by the number of people that appear on the right-wing media and on podcast.

[00:12:20]Humanity invented democracy and somehow turned it into reality TV with parliamentary procedure.

[00:12:31]I need to say that that's quite an achievement. Honestly, let me know what you think in the comment section below.

[00:12:38]Take care everybody.