For 2019: Sign the Pro-Truth Pledge and Make Truth Great Again.
Are you looking for a resolution for 2019? Let’s help America make truth great again. After two years of “alternative facts,” “fake news,” and the relentless media coverage of lying tweets that merely serve to stoke outrage on the left and fear on the right — it’s time for citizens to take action.
Here’s one simple thing anybody can do, that collectively will make a big difference: Go to the website below and take the Pro-Truth Pledge:
The Pro-Truth Pledge is a commitment to “encourage politicians — and everyone else — to commit to truth-oriented behaviors and protect facts and civility.” As of Jan. 1, 2019, 9207 individuals have signed (including me), as well as 98 organizations, 643 government officials, and 962 public figures. The most prominent political signer I’ve found so far is Beto O’Rourke. Here’s the video of him taking the pledge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfEvJOnaadk&t=3s
The Pro-Truth Pledge is a project of Intentional Insights, a volunteer-run educational nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to promoting science-based truth-seeking, rational thinking, and wise decision-making. The group was co-founded by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, a behavioral science expert and professor at Ohio State University, and Agnes Vishnevkin, an MBA with 15 years’ experience in the nonprofit sector.
Dr. Tsipursky’s expertise is on cognitive biases and decision making. It was out of his concern of the powerful yet damaging impact of lies on our democracy that the Pro Truth Pledge was born. He is also a prolific writer on this topic; see for example this article in Psychology Today on “The Brain Science of Political Deception in the 2016 Election”:
I’ve befriended Dr. Tsipursky, and we are currently writing a Pro-Truth book together, based on his research plus my work on effective communications (see The Master Communicator’s Handbook). One of the things I have come to respect most in him is his conviction that the truth is non-partisan. For example, he has appeared on many right-wing radio talk shows, where his views are respected, because he moves the conversation towards rational discussion of facts, tempered with an appreication that people have different values. Democracy, he believes, depends on the ability of people to discern a common set of facts, and then debate policy choices that arise from those facts plus their values. If we lose the ability to agree upon a common reality, democratic discourse becomes impossible. And this is why truth is essential to a functioning democracy.
Although our current president seems most untethered to the truth, politicans of all stripes are tempted to lie for political advantage. So are their supporters, who tend to pass along on social media whatever fits their biases. Before casting the first stone, is there anyone reading this who has not forwarded a social media post or email that filled him or her with outrage — without fact checking it first? I know I have. The more we think the other side lies, the more tempted we are to fight fire with fire — even if we are burning down the house we must live in together.
This is where the Pro-Truth pledge can make a big difference — if it becomes widespread. I signed it, and my hope for 2019 is that you will sign it too. Here it is:
I pledge to share, honor and encourage truth!
I Pledge My Earnest Efforts To:
Share truth
- Verify: fact-check information to confirm it is true before accepting and sharing it
- Balance: share the whole truth, even if some aspects do not support my opinion
- Cite: share my sources so that others can verify my information
- Clarify: distinguish between my opinion and the facts
Honor truth
- Acknowledge: acknowledge when others share true information, even when we disagree otherwise
- Reevaluate: reevaluate if my information is challenged, retract it if I cannot verify it
- Defend: defend others when they come under attack for sharing true information, even when we disagree otherwise
- Align: align my opinions and my actions with true information
Encourage truth
- Fix: ask people to retract information that reliable sources have disproved even if they are my allies
- Educate: compassionately inform those around me to stop using unreliable sources even if these sources support my opinion
- Defer: recognize the opinions of experts as more likely to be accurate when the facts are disputed
- Celebrate: celebrate those who retract incorrect statements and update their beliefs toward the truth
As Dr. Tsipursky has written in our forthcoming book, “To the extent that the Pro-Truth movement gains ground, it should make post-truth politics a more costly and less effective choice from the politician’s point of view. It should damage the political effectiveness of politicians who have so far relied on appeals to emotions and personal beliefs, in preference to truth rooted in reality. These politicians would have to choose whether to change their political behavior to emphasize reasoning from facts, or to continue using the post-truth techniques of manipulation, after they have been exposed and undermined by the Pro-Truth Pledge.”
You can start the new year by taking the Pro-Truth Pledge at the link below. It only takes a minute. Please pass it on to your social media networks and especially your political representatives. To make that easy, I’ve attached two links — one with all the US senate phone numbers and email addresses; the other with all the House of Representatives Phone numbers and email addresses:
Let’s make 2019 the year Americans makes truth great again!
Tim Ward is the co-author of The Master Communicator’s Handbook, the co-owner of Intermedia Communications Training, and the publisher of Changemakers Books.
