Man of La Mancha

618 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of the oj simpson case

"Facts are the enemy of truth!" cries Don Quixote de la Mancha. And I wonder, is this the madness of Quixote or Cervantes's inspiration? Can facts really be truth's enemy?
Facts aren't adequate to explain how irrational perfection lies at the root of imperfect Aldonza. Facts have always misled us.

For history and science, facts are used at all times. Yet in both areas, unprocessed facts are truth's enemy. Facts taken at face value deceive us every time.
In the end, Quixote's family hauls him in and subjects him to the cure. When they force him to accept the obvious facts, it kills him. Aldonza approaches his deathbed. In his defeat, Quixote calls her Aldonza. "No," she says, "my name is Dulcinea!"
She has, at last, found the truth -- the perfection -- that contradicts the facts. If Quixote's madness didn't redeem him, it did, at least, redeem her.

Throughout the O.J. Simpson Case of 1991, his lawyers were attempting to convince people, most importantly the jury, that by conjuring facts which created doubts in the minds of the people, and hence concealed the truth about what happened.

Fahrenheit 9/11 or Iraq War.

Facts are part of the truth, but not its whole. Fact is always limited; it’s a piece of information about something. Fact is a small division of truth as interpreted by an individual.

The truth emerges when there is the clear vision to see facts with their proper weight and place.
It can take much research and fact-checking to determine what the facts are. It's not easy to sort out what is real and what is not. Being fully informed on every important issue is impossible; all one can do is their best with the time, resources, and inclinations they have.
However, even if one has time to read extensively, it's not always possible to conclusively know the facts in the middle of the "he said, she said" of politics. In the face of contradictory versions of events, for example, whose version do we trust? We weren't there, after all. We often end up just believing what we want to believe, what fits with our views and is palatable to us. It's important to keep an open mind and recognize when we don't have enough information to be certain of the facts. Pg. 11.

Taken out of context, almost anything a person does or says can be made to look bad or good.

Show More
Related

  • Mad Cowboy

    2443 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion one can see that their convictions closes their eyes to the facts present.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien

    2258 Words  | 5 Pages

    They are legitimate, universal facts that everyone takes as true, but each may have a different interpretation of it. The main difference between subjective truth and objective fact is that subjective truth expresses one's own experience when understanding the objective fact. Subjective truth has no correct definition, but I define it as: Subjective truth deals with subjectivity. Something that is subjectively true means that it is true for the person making the judgment, even though it may not be true for other people.... ...

    Read More

  • Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case

    2404 Words  | 5 Pages

    The defense succeeded at instilling reasonable doubt in the jurors’ minds. A major difference between the defense and prosecution, as stated by Dershowitz, was that the defense relied on factual evidence and scientific experts while the prosecution utilized witnesses that casted a shadow of doubt upon the whole jury (Dershowitz 97). Dershowitz claimed the prosecution knew they had falsities in their case, but kept them in order to win the case (Dershowitz 96). In all, though many people viewed Simpson as a guilty man, the allegations of police perjury and investigative errors allowed the defense to exploit and capitalize on the faults carried out by the prosecution and ultimately implant reasonable doubts in the minds of the jurors.

    Read More

  • My Planned Persuasion Essay: Roe Vs. Wade

    170 Words  | 1 Pages

    FACT 2. Once informed you can make a choice and be able to preserve your choice with realities.

    Read More

  • Marian Wright Edelman's The My Hero Project

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, just like the message prior, it can be manipulated for personal gain. This is commonly seen in politics and history. Infact it can be happening right now. Be wary of the media and propaganda. Determine the difference between fact and opinion.

    Read More

  • I Stand Here Ironing

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    "I Stand Here Ironing", by Tillie Olsen is a short story portraying the life and regret of a young mother struggling to raise her oldest daughter. The mother- daughter relationship is the major part of the story and the attitude of the mother toward her daughter, Emily, and the actual character of the mother are two very important elements. The character of the mother can be said to be strong and persevering, and along with her age and experience came her wisdom. At first her attitude toward her daughter seemed more of resigned and regretful, but as Emily grew up and became a beautiful and talented young women, the mother knows to let her be and leave her to live her own life. The character of the mother is crucial to the entire story, for it is this that will determine her attitudes toward her daughter. She at first, seemed very naïve and weak in a big scary world, with society constantly nipping at her heels, but, as she lives, she learns to take life as it comes and try her hardest to do her best. Which at that time was no easy thing to do. The strength and love that the mother exhibits constantly keeps the idea of hope with the reader. The character of the mother is a determining factor in her attitude towards her daughter. As her character changed, so did her feelings about Emily. In the beginning of the story, the mother talks of how sorry and regretful she is of her daughter’s childhood. She looks at her unfortunate daughter, Emily, with pi...

    Read More

  • Stand Here Ironing by Tilie Olsen

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wake up, go to school, come home, eat, do homework, sleep. Wake up, go to school, come home, eat, do homework, sleep. Wake up, go to school, come home, eat, do homework, sleep. This is the life of a teenager. They do the same things over and over again barley having enough time to interact with their family and friends. This schedule alters slightly as one gets older, but for the most part everything stays the same. Each day a repeat of the day before. In the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, the narrator begins with a the simple task of ironing and all throughout the story she continues to iron. For the narrator every day is the same. A day filled with chores and work and more chores and no time to spend loving her daughter. The psychological aspect of this story reflects on the narrator’s perspective of her own life and the regrets she has about raising her eldest daughter. This can be seen through the setting, point of view, and symbols throughout the story.

    Read More

  • Plato's Noble Falsehood

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    What we’ve discussed previously is all on the presupposition, in which we assume that all citizens want to acknowledge the truth. However, what if citizens don’t want the truth or What if people is incapable of burdening the truth? In those cases, ignorance could be a blessing. Like the allegory of the cave in Book VII, those people who get out of the cave is blind by the light, and they need time to “adjust before he could see things in the world above”(Grube, p188, 516a). Similarly, knowing the truth is actually a painful process and it takes time for people to understand. Not everyone could or even want to experience this pain instead they prefer to stay in the dark cave. Even in Snowden’s case, it is true that there is a large proportion of people are willing to sacrifice part of their own freedom and accept government surveillance. Simply because by giving up this proportion of freedom, they could live their old-happy and safe lives. They have no interest to know the true or to burden themselves with those pains and responsibilities. Thus, for them letting government to bear both responsibility of fighting against evil and the pains of hiding secrets seems to be a win-win case. Therefore, for them falsehood is a necessary

    Read More

  • Grete In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

    330 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the beginning of Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”, Grete was a young lady, who’s only responsibility was to go to school. In comparison, Gregor, was a young man, who had the responsibility of earning money and taking care of the whole family because nobody else had a job. When Gregor becomes a monstrous vermin, Grete starts to slowly take on his role in the family. She began by taking care of Gregor when no one else would. "But he would never have been able to guess what his sister, in the goodness of her heart, actually did. To find out his likes and dislikes, she brought him a wide assortment of things, all spread out on an old newspaper..." (page 1169) Despite the fact that everyone in Gregor's family is afraid of going anywhere near him,

    Read More

  • Not Just a Story of a Childhood

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    she hears.’’ She later on learns though, that the propaganda may not be entirely true.

    Read More

  • Naguib Mahfouz' Fountain and Tomb

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...hers might say. He tells our narrator, “The most important thing in the world is knowing the truth.” He goes on to remark, “The whole truth and nothing but the truth” (Mahfouz, 69). In this story, the Truth had a positive affect on the character. It gave him a new sort of freedom. He had gained a new sense of identity because of his new knowledge, and this evoked a sense of happiness in him.

    Read More

  • Change In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    The most prominent change in Metamorphosis are the changes that occur to the protagonist, Gregor Samsa. “One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin”( Kafka 1). The first and most obvious change in Metamorphosis is the physical change as a simple travelling salesman is transformed into a roach. The Samsa family is horrified to see this beast in their household and reduces interaction with Gregor to a minimum. Because of his appearance, he is forced to cover himself with a bedsheet to conceal his insect-like structure when Mother and Grete enter his bedroom. While rearranging his room, Mother “, saw the enormous brown patch against the flowers of the wallpaper, and

    Read More

  • The Theories of Truth

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    Truth is often something people take for granted. We believe that because we witness or experience something then it’s true. A color-blind person may see a red table as grey and say the table is grey, contending that’s the truth even when everyone else states the table is red. As humans, we have the tendency to base truth off personal experience even if we’re wrong. Indeed, even the majority of people within a community have mistaken the truth. A few centuries ago it was believed the world was flat and, if one sailed far enough, one would quite literally fall off the edge of the Earth. As absurd as it sounds now, in the past it was espoused as undeniable truth.

    Read More

  • George Orwell's Animal Farm

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability a fable for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917. The animals of “Manor Farm” overthrow their human master after a long history of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for humans. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans.

    Read More

  • The Progression to a Totalitarian Nightmare in Animal Farm by George Orwell

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Orwell opens the novel Animal Farm” mentioning about thee carelessness drunk runner or the Manor farm Mr.Jones. Oldest wise pig Major takes the use of the weakness of Mr.Jones and gives the idea of a farm which controls by themselves through his speech Old Major explains how the animals throughout the world suffers under the control of human beings. Then he says about his dream.

    Read More

More about Man of La Mancha

Open Document