There are harmless Truth Smugglers. The reward for them is they get to engage in a conversation in which they would otherwise be intellectually disqualified. Jack Nicholson said, “You can’t handle the truth!” But that is not the problem for this type of Truth Smuggler. The problem is he/she doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to engage in the process of arriving at truth. So, he/she compensates by smuggling the truth away and making the debate a contest where the stakes have nothing to do with determining truth.
Then there are the more dangerous Truth Smugglers. These are the people who have extremely high intellectual capacities. They know how to examine facts from all sides of a conversation. They also know how to manipulate and omit facts. They do so, not to win a meaningless argument, but to gain a following. Their target is not their opponent, but the audience. If they can convince enough people that they are telling the truth, they will have a power base from which they can exert control, raise money, and manipulate the opinions and behavior of large numbers of people.
You can hear this type of Truth Smuggler on the talk shows on radio as well as on television. “Experts” who comment on certain topics are often nothing more than “Truth Smuggling” shills for a particular point of view. The political strategists from both parties who appear on these shows should be embarrassed at how obvious they are. Some religious leaders do the very same thing. They see truth as a tool to be given out in portions in the manner best suited to control the behavior of their members.
Why am I saying all of this? If you recognize the Truth Smuggler and expose him/her, the masses will quit listening, and the Truth Smuggler will go away. Even if a person champions your viewpoint, be honest enough to evaluate whether he/she is really seeking truth, or just a Truth Smuggler. Have you ever heard this person lose an argument, or stop in mid-debate and say, “You know, that’s a really good point. You might be right after all.” If not, one of two things is true of that person. Either he/she has a perfect understanding of all truth regarding that issue, or he/she is closed off to any new information and is attempting to gain something besides truth out of the conversation.
Now that we know their motivations, the next several entries will identify tactics used by Truth Smugglers.