'Truth is sacred', Tom Hanks tells Harvard graduates

[onthedarkside]

 

Actor Tom Hanks has told graduates from Harvard University in the US that "truth is sacred" and urged them to fight to defend it.

 

The two-time Oscar winner was the main speaker at the prestigious institution's commencement ceremony for students completing degrees.

 

He received an honorary arts degree himself. "The truth to some is no longer empirical," he told an audience of more than 9,000 people.

 

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65720065

 

[AndyFoxy]

The BBC……truth is sacred…...don’t really go together 

[Bkk Brian]

Tom was once voted the most trusted man in the US

 

 

Some excerpts from his speech...

 

The American Way, he noted, took root here, in the American Revolution, despite chattel slavery, despite the relegation of Native Americans to subhuman status. Now, “All of us, no exceptions, are entitled to inalienable rights of liberty and freedom because…we live in the United States of America.”

 

But those rights are under attack because they depend on “the language of telling the Truth,” and “Truth to some, is no longer empirical, no longer based on data, nor common sense, nor even common decency—telling the truth is no longer the benchmark for public service, no longer the salve to our fears nor the guide to our actions.” Truth is vulnerable to those who “play fast and loose” with synonymns for truth such as honesty and honor “to create enemies, to claim victimhood, to raise the mediocre into merit, and to make cloudy a vista that is actually crystal clear.” Most of all, it is vulnerable to indifference:

 

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2023/05/commencement-exercises-tom-hanks

[billd766]

Now who decides what is the truth?

 

President Biden, ex president Trump, Tom Hanks. Mickey Mouse, Blind Freddies dog?

 

What some people believe is the truth, others believe that it is a pack of lies.

[roquefort]

43 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Now who decides what is the truth?

 

President Biden, ex president Trump, Tom Hanks. Mickey Mouse, Blind Freddies dog?

 

What some people believe is the truth, others believe that it is a pack of lies.

No-one decides, you have to make up your own mind. The truth is out there, we have more information available to us than at any time in history. Seek and ye shall find.

[Bkk Brian]

53 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Now who decides what is the truth?

 

President Biden, ex president Trump, Tom Hanks. Mickey Mouse, Blind Freddies dog?

 

What some people believe is the truth, others believe that it is a pack of lies.

Evidence/facts does it for me.

[AndyFoxy]

48 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Evidence/facts does it for me.

And any evidence/facts you don’t like, you can just trot out the old conspiracy theory line. ????

[Bkk Brian]

Just now, AndyFoxy said:

And any evidence/facts you don’t like, you can just trot out the old conspiracy theory line. ????

What makes you say that? Facts are facts as is evidence. I thought I just made that clear. Obviously you find that a little difficult to digest.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, roquefort said:

No-one decides, you have to make up your own mind. The truth is out there, we have more information available to us than at any time in history. Seek and ye shall find.

I agree with you but is the truth I find the real truth, or the truth I want to find? Am I biased to one side or the other?

 

 

[billd766]

30 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

What makes you say that? Facts are facts as is evidence. I thought I just made that clear. Obviously you find that a little difficult to digest.

I agree with AndyFoxy.

 

You say that you believe in facts.

 

That is fine, but who says the facts that you believe are correct?

[LosLobo]

8 hours ago, AndyFoxy said:

The BBC……truth is sacred…...don’t really go together 

'The truth to some is no longer empirical!

 

Now we know exactly who he was talking about!

 

 

Edited May 27, 2023 by LosLobo

[Bkk Brian]

24 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I agree with AndyFoxy.

 

You say that you believe in facts.

 

That is fine, but who says the facts that you believe are correct?

Hence why I said, evidence/facts.

 

If evidence is provided then that is a fact.

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, Bkk Brian said:

Hence why I said, evidence/facts.

 

If evidence is provided then that is a fact.

Well it's got a lot more chance of being a fact than if no evidence is provided. Kind of like the theory of evolution vs natural selection. One is probably true and the other likely not based on the evidence.

[billd766]

11 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Hence why I said, evidence/facts.

 

If evidence is provided then that is a fact.

If evidence is also provided to the contrary, is that not a fact also?

 

Take all of the facts for Covid and what do you come up with?

 

Covid is true or false?

 

If doctors claim it is true and other doctors claim it is not, Who do you believe?

 

If some doctors claim that you need to wear a mask and other doctors claim it is not, Who do you believe?

 

If some doctors claim that you must be vaccinated and other doctors claim you do not, Who do you believe?

 

Millions of people died during the Covid pandemic. Did they die OF Covid or WITH Covid and other diseases? You can find facts saying both things.

[roquefort]

1 minute ago, billd766 said:

If evidence is also provided to the contrary, is that not a fact also?

 

Take all of the facts for Covid and what do you come up with?

 

Covid is true or false?

 

If doctors claim it is true and other doctors claim it is not, Who do you believe?

 

That's a good point. You can find evidence for almost any conclusion you want to come to. Science itself is not settled, as some would have you believe. 

 

At the end of the day you have to sift through all the evidence and make up your own mind. That will be your version of the truth.

[Bkk Brian]

1 minute ago, billd766 said:

If evidence is also provided to the contrary, is that not a fact also?

 

Take all of the facts for Covid and what do you come up with?

 

Covid is true or false?

 

If doctors claim it is true and other doctors claim it is not, Who do you believe?

 

If some doctors claim that you need to wear a mask and other doctors claim it is not, Who do you believe?

 

If some doctors claim that you must be vaccinated and other doctors claim you do not, Who do you believe?

 

Millions of people died during the Covid pandemic. Did they die OF Covid or WITH Covid and other diseases? You can find facts saying both things.

There is no evidence to back up any claims that Covid was not true. That's a futile example.

 

Take Tom Hanks point:

 

"telling the truth is no longer the benchmark for public service"

 

Example Trump still maintains he was robbed of the election through fraud, voting machines etc. Yet after over 60 court cases found virtually none, he still claims this.

 

Its a fact based on the evidence he lost. Despite his ongoing lies.

[ozimoron]

10 minutes ago, billd766 said:

If evidence is also provided to the contrary, is that not a fact also?

 

Take all of the facts for Covid and what do you come up with?

 

Covid is true or false?

 

If doctors claim it is true and other doctors claim it is not, Who do you believe?

 

If some doctors claim that you need to wear a mask and other doctors claim it is not, Who do you believe?

 

If some doctors claim that you must be vaccinated and other doctors claim you do not, Who do you believe?

 

Millions of people died during the Covid pandemic. Did they die OF Covid or WITH Covid and other diseases? You can find facts saying both things.

It's really very easy. One side will always have qualifications and credibility and the other side not so much. We see that all the time here.

 

And, not to put too fine a point on it but if you die one minute sooner than expected because of covid then you died of covid. Presence of terminal cancer or not. If you have terminal cancer and get run over by a bus then you don't die with cancer. You die from the immediate cause of death.

Edited May 27, 2023 by ozimoron

[Tug]

Follow the provable facts to arrive at the truth no more no less the rest is spurious then follow what’s to gain by pushing spurious untruths to arrive at the motive of lying individual 

[billd766]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

There is no evidence to back up any claims that Covid was not true. That's a futile example.

 

Take Tom Hanks point:

 

"telling the truth is no longer the benchmark for public service"

 

Example Trump still maintains he was robbed of the election through fraud, voting machines etc. Yet after over 60 court cases found virtually none, he still claims this.

 

Its a fact based on the evidence he lost. Despite his ongoing lies.

But millions of people believe it is true including Trump.

 

Are all those millions of people wrong?

[Bkk Brian]

4 minutes ago, billd766 said:

But millions of people believe it is true including Trump.

 

Are all those millions of people wrong?

What do you think? lol

 

Millions of those same people also believe in the principle beliefs of QAnon. Note "believe" no facts or evidence to back them up. 

[scottiejohn]

10 minutes ago, billd766 said:

But millions of people believe it is true including Trump.

 

Are all those millions of people wrong?

YES!

[billd766]

57 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

What do you think? lol

 

Millions of those same people also believe in the principle beliefs of QAnon. Note "believe" no facts or evidence to back them up. 

It is not what I think/believe is right or wrong it is what millions of other people think is the truth and what they believe is the truth.

[JonnyF]

The truth?

 

Like the fact that women do not have a penis? That type of truth?

 

Or the Markle/Oprah “your truth” type of truth?

 

Or the type of truth that Gervais spoke at the Oscars while Hanks got all offended from the crowd?

 

 

[AndyFoxy]

To me, men can't get pregnant is a fact. All the evidence points to that. Yet others believe the opposite.

[Bkk Brian]

26 minutes ago, billd766 said:

It is not what I think/believe is right or wrong it is what millions of other people think is the truth and what they believe is the truth.

Exactly. They believe yet have no evidence or facts to back up those beliefs. Back to my first post.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

19 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

The truth?

 

Like the fact that women do not have a penis? That type of truth?

 

Or the Markle/Oprah “your truth” type of truth?

 

Or the type of truth that Gervais spoke at the Oscars while Hanks got all offended from the crowd?

 

 

All 3 are more about feelings than science. You are not likely to get doctors or scientists talking about such issues except the first one where they may consider a broader definition is appropriate due to sociological research and such. In the Gervais example I think he didn’t like a put down about Tim Allen. Totally different issue. I find Tom Hanks interesting as he is interesting in interviews but many of his movies don’t do it for me. Forrest Gump seemed silly though I could only watch a little bit.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Fat is a type of crazy

[AndyFoxy]

8 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Exactly. They believe yet have no evidence or facts to back up those beliefs. Back to my first post.

In the pandemic, there was evidence and facts to back up ideas from scientists, yet they were censored because they didn't fit the truth.

[onthedarkside]

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