perfidy

Last night I watched Chris Matthews' Hardball; the subject of the show (and this week) is essentially "What is really going on in Iraq?". The show went "live" some of the time to Bob Arnot, who gave a summary, and also went "semi-live" (which is when they pretend to be doing something live when it really isn't) for a walking tour of an Iraqi market, and interactions with the sellers.

Why is it so hard to figure out what the truth is in Iraq?

On one hand, we have the Administration telling us that everything is pretty much great, the plan is solid, the people are happy, and that the miscellaneous deaths and violence that we're seeing are a natural result of the process. Conservative pundits across the web look for every piece of evidence they can find to support this position. There is a constant focus, from those who support the Administration on the good we are doing.

On the other hand, certain parts of the press are painting a more dire picture. The international press, in particular, is pretty rough on the occupation and paints the situation as being somewhat ouf of hand. Negative press also tends to focus on the endgame; how, exactly, do the cells of terrorists and insurgents get eliminated? Is there a constant resupply of these people? The constant focus of the "counter-Administration" people is the endgame; they ignore the very real good that is happening.

So how are we to parse all of this? There exists at the moment two polarized spheres, their centers of gravity fixed on their essential positions, unable to move from them. Journalism and truth itself has been sacrificed to maintain these positions.

The Right reframes all criticism of the war as unpatriotic. The Left reframes support of the war as partisan.

Where are the neutral voices? Why, at this critical juncture in history, are there so few widely known, reputable sources of truth? Why has the truth gap become so vast?

When the truth gap opens, we look down into it...it is the abyss. If we cannot repair this and begin to agree on truth again, from first principles, we will never find a rational path forward.