Pontius Pilate Wasn’t Alone

During his brief discourse with Jesus when he was trying to decide if there was anything to the charges the Jewish religious leaders brought to him, Pilate asked the million-dollar question: “What is truth?” I have to believe he asked this from a perspective of moral relativism, meaning that each person may have different ideas about what the truth is. In that light, he was perhaps trying to trap Jesus in a manner similar to what the Pharisees attempted on several occasions. That is, Pilate asked the question as a skeptic, not expecting a believable answer, if any answer at all. If Pilate’s belief system was an exception in his time, it certainly isn’t now.

We can look at any current issue being reported and opined upon in the media and see the truth being muddled – the recent bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, the deportation of illegal immigrants by ICE and the anti-ICE demonstrations, the “big, beautiful bill” and what it contains, and so on, ad infinitum. Part of the problem is that too often, factual reporting is mixed with a large dose of opinion – and both sides are guilty of this. Let’s look at the coverage of the Iran bombing as an important recent example.

It was CNN that first reported skeptically about the amount of destruction the American bombings actually did to Iran’s nuclear facilities. Of course, they had what they felt was an unimpeachable source: the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), an intelligence-gathering arm of the Defense Department. A preliminary assessment by DIA analysts allegedly claimed, albeit with “low confidence,” that the damage was not as great as hoped for, meaning that Iran could reconstitute its nuclear weapons program in a matter of months or even weeks. CNN did note that the assessment was preliminary, but that wasn’t the main emphasis. Rather, it was the difference between this preliminary assessment and what the Trump administration claimed as significant, if not total, destruction, that was the focus of their reporting.

Only when more reliable assessments came forth that were unanimous in concluding there was significant damage did CNN circle back – not to retract anything, but to claim with straight faces that they included all the appropriate caveats in their initial reporting of the allegedly “leaked” DIA assessment. However, they did not acknowledge that the DIA graded its preliminary assessment as “low confidence” either initially or in their follow-up. Obviously, to do so would have diluted the impact of their story. It also would have impacted their true mission – to make President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth look bad.

Why is all of this so important? Well, for starters, we’re talking about a nation that’s been hostile to the U.S. for decades, and whether or not they possess nuclear weapons capability that one day could strike our ally Israel, or maybe even targets in the U.S. itself. I think it’s pretty important for the public to know the truth about how much damage was inflicted on Iran’s nuclear program; after all, this capability has had (and still might have in the future) the potential to be our #1 national security issue. Second, we need to have some trust in what we’re being told, and with the information barrage that constitutes today’s 24/7 media coverage, that’s becoming increasingly difficult.

I have the habit of perusing the comment sections that follow most news and opinion articles these days, to see the level of craziness and if there is a majority who support one point of view or the opposite one. This has become a fool’s errand. Trump haters will reflexively claim the president is lying every time his lips move, and therefore buy CNN’s story without the caveats, which CNN may be counting on. On the other hand, there are hard-right types who accept the administration’s claims without question. Unfortunately, those who think Trump is always right give the leftists ammunition to accuse the MAGA movement of being a “cult.” And chances are, the real truth may reside between these two claims, whether concerning the Iranian bombing event or numerous other issues.

We live in an increasingly crazy time, with unapologetic Democrats seemingly skeptical about everything that’s good and patriotic about America, while somehow believing that socialism, with its implicit assumptions about the ultimate perfectibility of man to reach its goal, is achievable. Yet, despite all of the clear evidence in our big cities and around the world that leftist policies are destructive, new generations are buying what the hard-left Dems are selling, as evidenced by the recent mayoral primary in New York City. Truth is harder to find or even recognize today than perhaps it’s ever been. And so it will continue until people turn to the only real Source of Truth.