You Got The Facts... Now What?

Give us the facts and we will deduct the truth... The assumption behind this is that facts are equal to truth.
Sorry guys, but facts are... just facts. About 200 hundred years ago Friedrich Hegel said that without the trend facts are dead (pretty free translation). Facts do not equal Truth. They do not hold absolute value.
My client sold a house in Seattle for $350,000. This is the fact. The Seller expected more, but waited too long, and the market punished him. He has all the reasons not to be happy with $350,000. However, he bought it 6 years ago for $140,000, so he did pretty well.
So, $350,000 that he sold the house for, is it a cause to feel miserable, or be ecstatic? Or it depends on his mood?
Hey, the proverbial glass that is half-empty or half-full. The fact (the quantity) is the same, but what the heck of a difference in the way we see it.
Are we pulling our leg when demanding the facts, assuming that we can attain the truth based on the facts alone?
This is especially true in politics. The same fact about governor Palin makes some happy, and others angry. Facts are nothing. The interpretation is everything.
Politics is the art of interpretation. The war in Georgia is a fact, but US and Russia have different interpretations of it. And many Europeans have their own interpretations of the same war.
Party affiliations are based not on the facts, but on their interpretations. That's the reason that no matter how many facts you have up your sleeve, a republican will interpret them one way, and a democrat will interpret the same fact differently.
So, you got the facts...Now what?

Jon Zolsky, your Daytona Beach Connection
www.Beautifulflorida.com