The Corner

Culture

‘My Truth,’ They Say

At the Daily Caller, I was reading an item about the young man who is kind of a black activist who is now being challenged as not-black — as, in fact, white. In his defense, he has spoken of “my truth.”

Ah, yes. There’s a lot of that going around these days. And it is longstanding. While researching my history of the Nobel Peace Prize, I read a fair amount about Rigoberta Menchú, the famous Guatemalan. She wrote a totemic memoir, or had one written for her. It proved to be full of holes, i.e., lies. In her defense, Menchú spoke of “my truth.”

Next month, I have another book coming out — Plug City, y’all. This book is Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators.

Edda Mussolini Ciano was Il Duce’s first child, elder daughter, and personal favorite. This did not stop him from executing — or failing to stay the execution of — her husband, Count Ciano, his ex-foreign minister. Decades later, Edda wrote a memoir which came out, in English, as My Truth.

Bokassa, the butcher of Central Africa, wrote a memoir, Ma vérité, “My Truth.”

Obviously, subjective experience is a very important thing in life. But truth is truth, chillen. And untruth is untruth.

Most Popular

The Need to Discuss Black-on-Black Crime

Thomas Abt’s book Bleeding Out (2019) has garnered a fair amount of attention for its proposals to deal with gun violence in mainly black urban neighborhoods. The entire focus of the book is on interventions in high-crime locations to stem the violence, including: hot-spots policing, working with young males at ... Read More

The Need to Discuss Black-on-Black Crime

Thomas Abt’s book Bleeding Out (2019) has garnered a fair amount of attention for its proposals to deal with gun violence in mainly black urban neighborhoods. The entire focus of the book is on interventions in high-crime locations to stem the violence, including: hot-spots policing, working with young males at ... Read More
NR Webathon

Don’t Let Them Destroy the Country

I   don’t come to you with tidings of joy. If you aren’t alarmed by what’s happening to the country, you haven’t been paying attention. I don’t simply mean the sickening violence. I mean the campaign to excuse it and normalize it by the media establishment and the intellectual elite. It’s ... Read More
NR Webathon

Don’t Let Them Destroy the Country

I   don’t come to you with tidings of joy. If you aren’t alarmed by what’s happening to the country, you haven’t been paying attention. I don’t simply mean the sickening violence. I mean the campaign to excuse it and normalize it by the media establishment and the intellectual elite. It’s ... Read More
Science & Tech

Trump Derangement Syndrome at The Lancet

Remember when we were told that the administration of Donald J. Trump posed a pernicious threat to science and medicine? In an attempt to sharpshoot Trump’s most famous scientific claim, one of the world’s leading medical journals just blew off its own foot. What other possible explanation can there be for ... Read More
Science & Tech

Trump Derangement Syndrome at The Lancet

Remember when we were told that the administration of Donald J. Trump posed a pernicious threat to science and medicine? In an attempt to sharpshoot Trump’s most famous scientific claim, one of the world’s leading medical journals just blew off its own foot. What other possible explanation can there be for ... Read More
Politics & Policy

The Protest Loophole

Did you know there is a giant loophole to the legally enforceable social-distancing guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic? New York City mayor Bill de Blasio was reminded by a reporter earlier this week that retail stores and houses of worship had been closed for months. All public gatherings were limited by law ... Read More
Politics & Policy

The Protest Loophole

Did you know there is a giant loophole to the legally enforceable social-distancing guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic? New York City mayor Bill de Blasio was reminded by a reporter earlier this week that retail stores and houses of worship had been closed for months. All public gatherings were limited by law ... Read More