In a recent Fireside Chat—my weekly podcast for PragerU, half of which is dedicated to my taking questions from (mostly) young people around the world—a young man in his 20s asked how he was supposed to figure out who is telling the truth and who isn’t. He was undoubtedly speaking for millions of his peers. Given the opposing positions one encounters on almost every issue, how is one supposed to figure out which position is right, and which one may not only be wrong, but a lie?
In addition to obvious suggestions—such as finding individuals and institutions whom you trust, studying both sides of issues, learning as much as possible, and using common sense—I offered what may be the single most important indicator of who is more likely to be lying.
It is not a perfect indicator of who is telling the truth—there is no perfect indicator—but it comes close.
With rare exceptions, the party that calls for censorship is lying. People who tell the truth can deal with dissent and different opinions. In fact, truth-tellers welcome debate.
If this theory is correct—and I cannot imagine a valid argument against it—it means that in virtually every instance of a Left-Right difference, the Left is lying.
There is no important area of left-right difference in which the Left—not liberals; the Left—does not call for shutting down dissent.
Take the university. Everyone knows how difficult it is for a visiting speaker to offer non-left-wing views on a college campus. Conservative speakers are often either not allowed to appear in the first place, canceled after being invited or shouted down while speaking.
That is an almost perfect indicator that the leftist ideas that dominate campuses are false.
Now let’s take another example, an area that until very recently one might have said is the very home of truth—science, specifically medical science.
