Issue 68 - Post-Truth

Welcome to Issue 68 of Deep Life Reflections, where I share five things I’ve been enjoying and thinking about over the past week.

In this week's issue, we explore the complex and fraught world of truth and deception. We begin with the powerful poetry of Wilfred Owen, inspired by his traumatic experiences in the trenches of the First World War. Then we revisit the 1974 cinematic classic, Chinatown, examining its portrayal of power, corruption, and morality. We also contemplate the age-old role of propaganda and disinformation throughout human history, and the critical pillars we can rely on to challenge false narratives.

Join me as we explore this week’s Friday Five.

1. What I’m Reading

Poems by Wilfred Owen.

War has irreversibly shaped the life and work of many artists. Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso are two famous examples; their art influenced by their experiences in the World Wars and Spanish Civil War. Wilfred Owen, an English poet and soldier, is another example from history. His traumatic experiences in the First World War made him one of the most significant war poets of his time.

Drawn to poetry at a young age and inspired by the Romantic poets like John Keats, Owen’s early work was largely unremarkable. However, his enlistment in the British Army in 1915 and subsequent deployment to the Western Front exposed him to the brutal realities of war, which deeply influenced his poetry. The gruesome experiences of trench warfare became the essence of his poetic expression.

Most of Owen’s significant work was written between August 1917 and September 1918, during his time in the trenches. In the midst of unimaginable suffering, destruction, and death, Owen captured the senselessness of war; its complete absence of gallantry or glory. His poetry is vivid, direct, and compassionate to the common soldier. It is also notable for its irony.    

His first collection, simply titled Poems, was published in 1920, followed by an expanded edition, The Poems of Wilfred Owen, in 1931. In the preface to his collection, Owen wrote:

“This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or lands, or anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.”

One of Owen’s most powerful poems, ‘Dulce et Decorum est,’ contrasts the glorified image of war. The title, a Latin phrase from the Roman poet Horace, means “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” The poem, through its anonymous speaker, describes the gruesome effects of a gas attack: “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” Owen’s speaker concludes that anyone who sees the realities of war for themselves would not repeat the empty platitudes of patriotic sacrifice.

Wilfred Owen was killed in action on November 4, 1918, just one week before the war’s end. He was 25. Through his work, published posthumously, Owen countered the glorified narrative of dying for one’s country. He wrote:

“All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true Poets must be truthful.”

Read or listen to Dulce et Decorum Est

2. What I’m Watching

Chinatown. Directed by Roman Polanski.

“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”

Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Jack Nicholson, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. In 1974, the film received 11 Oscar nominations and people still recognise it as a landmark achievement in cinema—not only as a great noir detective story, but also as one of the most perfectly constructed films of all time. It’s a complex story of personal and political corruption, involving murder, stolen water rights, and incest. It’s set in the golden-hue of 1930s Los Angeles—a small city in a large desert, populated by big characters and even bigger lies.

Nicholson stars as private detective J.J. Gittes, hired to expose a high-profile businessman whose wife suspects him of infidelity. However, from this rather straightforward premise, Gittes finds himself quickly out of his depth, stumbling into the dangerous boreholes of money, power, and corruption. Gittes just wants to get to the bottom of things. He’s tired of the lies people spout.

Screenwriter Robert Towne, who died earlier this week, aged 89, was interested in exploring moral decay and the futility of seeking justice in a corrupt system. He used the real case of the California water rights scandal to examine the recurring themes of deception and inevitability, captured in the famous line: “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”

The film’s warning about unaccountable power shaping our lives in ways we cannot comprehend closely mirrored the political sentiments of the early 1970s (Chinatown was released during the final act of the Watergate scandal). That warning is still relevant today, especially in our current ‘Post-Truth’ era, where misinformation and manipulation often obscure reality.

The film’s ending is notoriously bleak, perhaps understandable given Polanski made the film just five years after his wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by the Manson Family. The film presents a fatalistic, even tragic nature of America and indeed of human nature. It suggests the rules of the game are written in a cryptic language, making everyone feel like an outsider and, ultimately, a victim.

The crimes in Chinatown include incest and murder, but the biggest crime is against the city’s own future, perpetrated by men who understand that controlling the water means controlling the wealth. At one point, Gittes asks millionaire Noah Cross why he needs more money: “What can you buy that you can’t already afford?” Cross replies: “The future, Mr. Gittes, the future.”

It seems we are still in Chinatown.

3. What I’m Contemplating

I focused on a broad theme this week of ‘Post-Truth’—a term that refers to a situation where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. The poems of Wilfred Owen counter traditional notions of the glory of sacrifice in war, while Chinatown portrays the shattering of one’s understanding of justice and morality through the corruption of money and power. Both are examples of using art to dismantle these deceptive stories.

This is a complex and weighty topic that requires much more discussion. To start, I read an insightful commentary by Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens. Harari argues that humans have always lived in an age of post-truth. History has shown us that propaganda and disinformation are nothing new. Humans have a unique ability to create, spread, and convince others to believe fictional stories—and we’ve been doing this since ancient times. We are naturally drawn to stories that resonate with our preexisting beliefs and emotions.

Harari writes:

“As a species, humans prefer power to truth. We spend far more time and effort trying to control the world than on trying to understand it—and even when we try to understand it, we usually do so in the hope that understanding the world will make it easier to control it.”

“One of the greatest fictions of all is to deny the complexity of the world and think in terms of pristine purity versus satanic evil. No politician tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but some politicians are still far better than others. It is the responsibility of all of us to invest time and effort in uncovering our biases and in verifying our sources of information.”

In a week when major elections across Europe have taken place—and ahead of the United States election in November—the importance of critical thinking, truthful representation in the media, and a well-informed public are vital pillars in challenging false narratives and promoting a deeper understanding of our complex world as best we can.

4. A Quote to note

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

- Albert Einstein

5. A Question for you

In what ways do your personal beliefs and emotions influence your acceptance of certain narratives over others?

Thanks for reading and being part of the Deep Life Journey community. If you have any reflections on this issue, please leave a comment. Have a great weekend.

James

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