Thanks for bringing this to my attention. As a 50-something, I grew up being taught the same whitewashed US history that the current administration is trying to revive. The rest of the story was only available to those who looked for it—either in higher education or by sheer autodidactic will. In addition to Neem’s points, I would add the effective defunding of public education through voucher programs. No doubt facts and framing vary from one publicly funded private school to the next, but the fracturing of curriculum that comes with the privatization of education seems certain to exacerbate our fact-facing problem.
thanks Brad for referring to my post. I agree balancing is hard - it even seems to cause problems in Europe, home to the idea of balancing rights - but I still maintain that having this as a core principle, a public understanding, is important even where the nuances are hard to implement through the courts.
And having legislation that incorporates balanced human rights sets a standard for society to follow. Such legislation can, just by existing, change social ideas, especially if institutions are encouraged to incorporate such ideas in their practices. I've recently heard about how (what we call) nursing homes - public or private aged care homes - would regularly separate couples even within the same home (single rooms being the norm) but with the introduction of human rights legislation, have started to ensure that couples can stay together.
Absolutely agree that lies should be prosecutable in important contexts like personal reputation/ defamation and political truths.
Having a 'truth' registry sounds an enormous task but probably it would come down to a limited number of issues. Certainly I agree that matters like the occurrence of the Holocaust should be accepted as factual and not need to be litigated (a la David Irving).
and see the following for a related view of Trump's attack on truth: https://jneem.substack.com/p/donald-trumps-attempt-to-control
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. As a 50-something, I grew up being taught the same whitewashed US history that the current administration is trying to revive. The rest of the story was only available to those who looked for it—either in higher education or by sheer autodidactic will. In addition to Neem’s points, I would add the effective defunding of public education through voucher programs. No doubt facts and framing vary from one publicly funded private school to the next, but the fracturing of curriculum that comes with the privatization of education seems certain to exacerbate our fact-facing problem.
thanks Brad for referring to my post. I agree balancing is hard - it even seems to cause problems in Europe, home to the idea of balancing rights - but I still maintain that having this as a core principle, a public understanding, is important even where the nuances are hard to implement through the courts.
And having legislation that incorporates balanced human rights sets a standard for society to follow. Such legislation can, just by existing, change social ideas, especially if institutions are encouraged to incorporate such ideas in their practices. I've recently heard about how (what we call) nursing homes - public or private aged care homes - would regularly separate couples even within the same home (single rooms being the norm) but with the introduction of human rights legislation, have started to ensure that couples can stay together.
Absolutely agree that lies should be prosecutable in important contexts like personal reputation/ defamation and political truths.
Having a 'truth' registry sounds an enormous task but probably it would come down to a limited number of issues. Certainly I agree that matters like the occurrence of the Holocaust should be accepted as factual and not need to be litigated (a la David Irving).