“How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?”
“Four.”
“And if the party says that it is not four but five—then how many?”
One of the most irritating and nauseating platitudes you often see on social media is people posting selfies or landscape shots with cursive text emblazoned across it that reads, “I’m living MY truth!”
Like most platitudes, it’s a statement that’s completely empty and shallow (sort of like the people that post such nonsense). What does it mean to live “my” truth? Is it different from “your” truth? If so, how can something that is true from my perspective be not true from your perspective?
This line of thinking is only possible if you don’t believe in objective truths – in other words, that there are some things that are true no matter what biases, beliefs, and opinions are taken into account. The sky is blue. SlotoCash Casino will always pay out. Water is wet.
This train of thought comes after some tweets went viral that unironically argued that two plus two could equal five.
Twats that Tweet
Twitter really is the dumpster fire of the internet, isn’t it? I guess it’s pretty obvious where I stand on this “issue”, then.
A couple of weeks ago, a twitter thread was dug up from professors, students, and other academics discussing the idea that, under certain circumstances, two plus two could equal five. Look for yourself:
These academics are proponents of “Critical Theory”, are Marxist inspired philosophy that seeks to “reveal and challenge power structures” in society. What sort of power-structures, you may ask? Well, ones that require the undermining of objective truths in order to be taken. In short order, everything you’ve ever thought to be true.
The idea is that if you squint your eyes, tilt your head, and drop some acid, “two” could actually equal “two point five”, and therefore, “two” plus “two” equals five.
@HeyHeresSteve presents THIS thought experiment, “There are two factories. Each factory has two fully operational machines, as well as half the parts to build another one. If the factories were joined into one and the two halves of the parts were built together, there would be five machines. A case where 2+2=5.”
This thought experiment is not only wrong, it’s stupid. In this scenario, each factory has 2.5 machines! Not that it matters…
@ESMathTeacher, “This is one of my favorite things to happen upon. Help me respond to all those haters that said my ethnic studies framework claimed that 2+2=5… how can we turn this into a true statement?”
That’s just it, isn’t it? It isn’t about what is or isn’t true, it’s about winning brownie points by redefining anything that disproves their opinions into “truths” that actually super-duper-secretly DO support their arguments, and YOU’RE the one that’s wrong!
“Am I so out of touch?” Principle Skinner wondered aloud, “No. It’s the children who are wrong.”
In other words, there are no such things as “truth”. Everything is subjective and can be redefined at a whim. Is there any logic to this line of reasoning? Well, we could redefine the character of “2” to equate to something else, but we immediately run into problems:
1. Two apples and two more apples are still only four apples
2. Why would anyone do that, except to confuse, obfuscate, and deny reality?
Of course… that’s exactly the point isn’t it?
@Nymphomachy tweeted, “The amount of people losing their sh*t over a mathematician saying ‘there are instances where 2+2=5’ is why you will never be able to convince transphobes to stop oppressing trans people.”
@herbertmath628, “Math is not universal. Treating it as such upholds white supremacy.”
@brittanylm3281, “Nope the idea of 2 + 2 equaling 4 is cultural and because of western imperialism/colonization, we think of it as the only way of knowing.”
You might be wondering, What on Earth does arithmancy have to with transphobia, white supremacy, and western imperialism?
The answer is Everything.
This is what lies at the heart of “intersectionality”. Men are women. Women are men. They are interchangeable, yet different. You have to accept that, and if you don’t, you are a heretic to be burned at the stake.
“How can I help it?” [Winston] blubbered. “How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.”
“Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.”
This quote comes from the infamous torture scene in George Orwell’s, “1984”. To the party, it didn’t matter what “2+2” equaled. It only mattered that you believed whatever the party told you “2+2” equaled!
This is why objective truth matters. Two and two DOES equal four, and you need to go back to first grade if your math results otherwise. Men are men, women are women. Gravity will always pull you towards the center of mass. There is right and there is wrong, and sometimes there AREN’T shades of gray.
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.” – ‘1984’