I walked through the University of Montana student union en route to my nine o'clock freshwater ecology class. The early morning light crested Mount Sentimental and filled the hall. Through the glare, I saw something I'd never seen before: a large group of students huddled around a row of televisions on a pushcart. I approached and peered over one of their shoulders and watched American Airlines Flight 11 slam into the North Tower. It was the morning of September 11, 2001.
This story is a lie. Everything happened exactly as I remember it, but it's a lie. It couldn't be true: the media released the footage I vividly remember seeing later in the afternoon that day. I'm not alone. Others remember the morning's footage just as I did, and many baby boomers recall watching the assassination of John F Kennedy on television, even though that footage first aired years later.
We edit and re-edit our stories all the time. We live lies. We far prefer fiction to fact. I highlight our ability to re-edit our personal history, not as a critique but rather as a gift. It's how we cope with the inevitable tragedies of life, and it's how we survive. We’re the most adaptable species in the history of the world, and myths help us adapt.
Author and Historian, Yuval Harrari, recognized the power of stories, even lies. "Homo sapiens is a post-truth species, whose power depends on creating and believing fictions. Ever since the stone age, self-reinforcing myths have served to unite human collectives. Indeed, Homo sapiens conquered this planet thanks above all to the unique human ability to create and spread fictions. We are the only mammals that can cooperate with numerous strangers because only we can invent fictional stories, spread them around, and convince millions of others to believe in them. As long as everybody believes in the same fictions, we all obey the same laws, and can thereby cooperate effectively.”
A Wired Magazine headline read this week: "TikToK was designed for War: As Russia's invasion of Ukraine plays out online, the platform's design and algorithm prove ideal for the messiness of war—but a nightmare for the truth." This article accurately documents lessons we've already learned for Harrarri: "you cannot organize masses of people effectively without relying on some mythology." And previous research reveals "fake news" travels six times faster than facts on social media. Engagement drives Tiktok's algorithm; the more time spent, shares, & comments, the more ideas spread. The stronger the emotional response to a video, the better it performs, truth be damned. So a video of Russian paratroopers laughing their way into the fields of Ukraine racks up 26 million views, even though it's from 2015.
Two weeks into the closest thing I've seen to a world war, the numbers are ugly: 15,0000 killed, 2.8 million displaced, & 119 billion in property damages. Just like all the wars that came before it, each side believes they're right. They believe the fictional stories that inspire them to destroy their enemy. They believe the falsehoods of their country. And that is the part of this conflict I know is true. People on both sides are crafting and re-editing lies to justify their actions. Humans driven by lies, it's the only true story since the beginning of time.