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Truth Has Become the Enemy · The Slippery Slope

• 0:00
  You've probably heard the quote. In a time of universal deceit,
• 0:05
  telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
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  Everyone repeats it. Everyone that I've heard repeat
• 0:11
  it attributes it to George Orwell.
• 0:15
  And it's wrong. Orwell never said it, and that's
• 0:18
  exactly why I'm opening with it. Because even the warnings about
• 0:23
  deception are wrapped in deception.
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  Even the quotes about truth get recycled without anyone checking
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  whether they're true. But that's the world we live in
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  now, a world where truth is optional and narrative is
• 0:40
  everything and the public is expected to swallow whatever
• 0:45
  they're fed without asking questions.
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  And today we're going to talk about truth, or more accurately
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  the systemic avoidance of truth in Australia, because the
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  headlines right now, they're, they're not just stories,
• 1:03
  they're signals, they're distractions, they're pressure
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  valves. And they tell you more about the
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  state of this country than the politicians ever will.
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  So let's start with this obvious one, the Ben Robert Smith
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  headlines. He's Australia's most decorated
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  soldier. Accusations of murder in
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  Afghanistan. Years of media coverage.
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  A defamation trial that played out like a Netflix series.
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  Now, I'm not here to relitigate the case and I'm not here to
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  declare his guilt or his innocence.
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  That's not the point of this episode.
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  The point is this. Why has the Australian
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  government allowed one of the most sensitive, complex,
• 1:57
  national security adjacent stories in our history to unfold
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  in the media like a public spectacle?
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  Why has every detail been allowed to drip out?
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  Why has the narrative been shaped in real time by
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  journalists, commentators and leaks?
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  Here's the uncomfortable truth. There is far more to this story
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  than the public will ever know. And that's not because of
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  conspiracy, but because of classification, geopolitics,
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  military secrecy and political risk.
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  Some truths are simply never going to be released.
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  Not in 10 years, not in 50 years, not ever.
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  And yet the public is fed a steady diet of headlines, as if
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  the media circus is the full story.
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  But it isn't, and it never will be.
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  We have in this government and in previous government,
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  selective transparency. And it's a government strategy.
• 3:01
  This is where the pattern becomes obvious.
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  Some stories, they get full sunlight, others get buried.
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  Some scandals have you noticed they're dissected in public.
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  And yet others seem to disappear into committees, enquiries and
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  oh, it's an ongoing review. Governments don't deal in truth,
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  they deal in narrative management.
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  If a story is useful, it gets airtime.
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  If a story is dangerous, it gets delayed, reframed or quietly
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  forgotten. And the public is left trying to
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  assemble truth from fragments. Fragments that are chosen by
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  people who benefit from controlling the narrative.
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  And meanwhile, Australia is in serious trouble.
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  While the media obsesses over personalities and scandals, the
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  country is sliding toward a financial Cliff.
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  Let's be blunt. Australia is drowning in debt.
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  The cost of living is crushing families.
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  Housing is unattainable for an entire generation.
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  Immigration is increasing while infrastructure is collapsing.
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  Energy security is fragile and fuel reserves are dangerously
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  low, and every economic forecast quietly admits the same thing.
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  We are not prepared for what's coming.
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  But instead of confronting these issues, the government keeps
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  kicking the can down the road. We borrow more, we spend more,
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  we import more people. And we hope, they hope nobody
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  notices the cracks forming beneath the surface.
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  And when the cracks get too big to hide, they distract you with
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  yet another headline, another scandal, another inquiry,
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  another national conversation that leads nowhere.
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  Then you've got the fuel and energy crisis that nobody wants
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  to talk about. Australia has some of the lowest
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  fuel reserves in the developed world.
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  We rely on foreign supply chains for almost everything.
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  Our energy grid is unstable, politicized and vulnerable.
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  But what does the public hear? Everything is fine.
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  Transition is going smoothly and there's no need to panic.
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  Truth is not the priority, Managing perception is.
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  Because if the public understood how fragile the system really
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  is, the political class would have to take responsibility, and
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  that's something they avoid at all costs.
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  So let's look at this through a biblical lens.
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  In the modern world, truth has fallen.
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  Isaiah 59 verse 14 says truth has stumbled in the streets.
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  Honesty cannot enter. That's not just ancient poetry,
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  that's a diagnosis of modern Australia.
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  And then there's Pilot's question in John 1838 where he
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  says, what is truth? It's the same question we're
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  asking today, not because truth doesn't exist, but because truth
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  has become inconvenient. Truth exposes incompetence.
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  Truth exposes corruption. Truth exposes mismanagement.
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  Truth exposes the consequences of political cowardice.
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  And that's why truth is avoided, because truth is now a threat.
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  Here's the reality. When truth becomes dangerous,
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  lies become normal. When truth becomes inconvenient,
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  narratives become essential. When truth becomes unmanageable,
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  governments turn to distraction. And in a time of universal
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  deceit, simply asking honest questions becomes a
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  revolutionary act. Australia doesn't need more
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  spin. It doesn't need more
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  distractions and it definitely doesn't need more political
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  theatre. It needs truth, real truth, and
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  the courage to face it. But until that happens, we're
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  going to keep sliding down this slope.
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  As always, this is just my opinion.
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  I am Jay Fallon and thanks for listening to the Slippery Slope
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  Podcast. They just feel.
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  The desire