Truth: Is It Reddit?
Conversations on “truth” are framed in many different ways depending on the forum. In casual conversation, we might equate it with facts we (assume to) know about the world, that which is obvious. In academic settings, the word might get muddied into nonexistence, or at the very least called into question as a valid concept. In a recent Twitter space, the conversation on truth was framed: is truth Reddit?
To clarify this question for those unfamiliar with the vernacular, “Reddit” is often used as an adjective to describe that which is cringe, simplistic but believing itself to be intellectual, and tied inextricably to the zeitgeist of The Powers That Be.
The conversation was far more insightful than you might be led to believe with such a framing. However, the question of whether “truth” is “Reddit” remained largely unanswered.
Instead, participants delved into fundamental questions about the nature of truth itself: whence people derive it, whether it is absolute, and how various scholars and cultures have considered truth over time. At the forefront of the discussion was Nietzche, his master/slave morality, the will to truth, and the role of perspective in our ascertaining of it.
The role of mythology and religion in inspiring action also made its way into the conversation. Linked to this was the question of whether ideas that produce and protect life are more “true” — or at the very least more useful — than ideas which paralyze, depress and stall human drive.
Missing from this discussion, and what I seek to add now as a written addendum to the space, was Dostoevsky’s analysis of where a blind belief in our ability to rationally derive “truth” leads us.
This analysis will also help answer the question of whether truth is Reddit.
In the first part of “Notes From Underground”, Dostoevsky’s Underground Man notes that even if humanity were to figure out, with mathematical precision, a way to fulfill every human need and desire, we would nevertheless be discontent and rebel against the seeming utopia.
The reason for this dissatisfaction with a totally rational, sensate “understanding” of human nature and existence is precisely due to an idea the Twitter space circled around: truth must fundamentally drive life and virtuous action, not dissuade it.
Participants in the discussion noted a difference between “facts” and “truth”, as well as what they achieve. Indeed, the “utopia” imagined by Dostoevsky’s Underground Man is one based on a society rooted in obsession with facts, not truth.
Rational, purely “scientific” thinking leads to scientism and a dissatisfaction with our lack of focus on the intangibles of existence, such as virtue, authenticity, and meaning. “Facts” can’t adequately explain our drive for love, or bloodlust, or higher purpose — to be consciously irrational — but truth can.
To circle back to the question, for the sake of avoiding wordcel rambling, Dostoevsky identified that a “Reddit” obsession with facts will leave us in a dissatisfactory hell, while the pursuit of a more intangible truth paves a more coherent, although perhaps Sysphian, path by which to live.
So, no, truth is not Reddit. A mistaken belief that sensate, material facts are the same as truth is, on the other hand, very much Reddit. Reddit truth is exactly that: dogmatic “facts” determined by scientific, governmental and cultural “authorities” disguised as the truth.
Where has this thinking led? It led to the medical tyranny of COVID-19. It led to the brainwashing and mutilation of children. It led to a wave of nihilism and atheism. And at no point did it lead to the truth.
The Redditoid’s worldview does not affirm life and existence. Instead, it attempts to explain it away and minimize it. It does not inspire healthy and effective action, it depresses the spirit.
Just like the Underground Man recognized an inevitable dissatisfaction, a hole in the heart, even in the presence of immense material knowledge, so too have we now recognized that Redditoids are left empty despite believing themselves enlightened.
