Facts as Weapons

We find ourselves in the middle of a war. 

I’m not talking about Ukraine – well at least not yet. I’m talking about the war waged over your mind. 

Facts form the weapons. And, like lead, you can mold facts into bullets. 

The evening news and morning talk shows amount to nothing more than a serial barrage of propaganda talking points, with a sprinkling of isolated facts to help the message find its target – a credulous and uncritical mind. 

Choose to be a product for social media platforms and you voluntarily tread through a minefield of bias-laden facts intended to lead you astray. 

Even when you think you’ve established a beachhead with a fact that matters, you get gaslighted from the flanks with some contradictory fact. 

The information war rages around and over us.

And to find your way through the chaos, you need to mount an effective defense against the onslaught of weaponized facts… 

Reason: A Higher Order Truth 

That defense is Reason. 

Fact and Reason are not the same things. 

As 15^th-century German philosopher and mathematician Wilhelm Leibniz laid out in The Monadology, Fact and Reason point to different types of truth. 

Truths of Fact are conditional. This means their opposite can also be true.  

For example, it is a fact that here in Baltimore, today is warmer than yesterday. But today didn’t have to be warmer than yesterday. It could easily have been colder. 

Truths of Reason, on the other hand, are unconditional. Their opposites cannot be true. 

Math yields Truth of Reason. One plus one equals two. It cannot be any other way. 

And with Reason, you can arrive at the truth by relating a set of facts just like you can deduce a mathematical answer from a set of numbers given an understanding of how they relate together. 

Reason points to higher-order truths while facts loiter on the surface. With reason, you transform the superficial into something more revealing. 

And when I look at the facts of the Ukraine situation, here’s what reason reveals to me. 

Poking The Bear 

Fact: Under the assumption of a free and open society, Ukraine has the right to align itself however it chooses. Self-determination permits free association. And Ukraine can choose to associate itself with NATO. 

Fact: NATO weapons and troops in Ukraine present as big a threat to Russia as the Chinese military in Mexico would to the U.S. We would challenge Mexico’s right to associate with China militarily just like Russia has done in Ukraine. All those involved in directing Western foreign policy know this. 

Fact: Ukraine’s peaceful existence within Europe is not conditional upon joining NATO. They can engage in trade with their partners with or without NATO. 

Fact: Russia posed no threat to Ukraine until the U.S. began pushing to have Ukraine join NATO. 

Given these facts, and assuming peace as the objective, a reasoned approach would be to say, “Sorry, Ukraine, but you can’t join NATO. Doing so creates more problems than it solves. Besides, you can grow and prosper without a formal NATO membership.” 

But we didn’t. Instead, we chose to act in a way that would antagonize Russia. A fact that reveals the reasoning behind their actions. 

And since when does a free and open society factor into the U.S. Governments’ geopolitics anyway? 

Two Birds, One Chaos Stone 

Western foreign policy elites want war. Not for war’s sake. But because war breeds instability. 

And instability in any form creates opportunities to extend the grasp of centralized power. For proof, you need look no further than the power grabs that 9-11, the Great Financial Crises, and Covid-19 enabled. 

Plus, that instability provides a much-needed distraction from Biden’s failures. 

I don’t claim a monopoly on reason. Nor do I command all facts. But I acknowledge reason as a vital tool to parsing the flood of information – right, wrong, deceitful or otherwise. 

In the case of our policy and rhetoric regarding Ukraine, my reasoning suggests their true goal is chaos. 

Chaos they will get. 

And it’s up to you to mount a proper defense.

P.S. The cost to maintain the existing geopolitical order grows exponentially. It is unsustainable. I want to help you guard against the collapse of unsustainable systems and bet for the future that lies beyond it. You can sign up for my free newsletter today. And for actionable content and insight, you are free to check out The Prosperity Pub channel on Telegram.