Quis Custodiet?

I just used a stupid hashtag on Twitter that I don't think anyone will understand.

I tweeted this (in response to the network news fiasco regarding the "arrest" of a "suspect" in the Boston Marathon Bombings: "Who gives news to the newsman? #QuisCustodietIpsosCustodes"

I've never actually learned Latin, but I've picked up a few phrases here and there, mostly with the intention of unleashing them at a hoity-toity shindig and appearing smart to all the hoity-toity ladies at the hoity-toity shindig. Alas, I've never been invited to even a shindig, much less hoity-toity one.

The line, attributed to the satirist Juvenal, was first revealed to me by my high school English teacher. It roughly translates to "Who guards the guards?" and it's immediate implications are dire. Someone is in charge. Someone or something has been charged with protecting us, maintaining our society and our safety. But how do we make sure they, the guards, are doing their job.

For millennia, nobody really had an answer. The world sort of existed and those lucky enough to gain power were completely free to abuse it.

Then we started writing stuff down, first in big books about gods and messiahs, then in codified constitutions. These documents, especially the democratically ratified constitutions, seem to have done a good amount of work in enabling the guards to protect citizens without allowing them to walk all over citizens without hampering their ability to protect citizens. (Just don't read the Patriot Act.)

For me, Juvenal's phrase has even more concerning implications regarding the nature of truth. Every truth, every fact has an origin. Some of these truths are self-evident and objective (we can observe the planets of the solar system). Some truths (which maybe can be better described as claims that have come to be widely accepted in society) are less obviously substantiated (existence of gods, meaning/value of life). These truths come to be fundamental blocks of our reality.

But both, even the clearly self-evident truths, are dependent on human beings, the delightfully fallible creatures that they are. I didn't learn about the planets in the solar system by looking into the sky or travelling to them, although I theoretically could have. But I did read about them in a textbook, which was written by a person based on the claimed scientific findings of another person.

Many human beings have come to develop a tremendous faith in the precepts of a thousands year old collection of books, written in an ancient language and then translated hundreds of times over eons of time.

In many cases, we as individuals do not know the sources of the truths we accept. Sure, the science article was peer-reviewed, but I don't know who reviewed it or who funded the study and potentially influenced the authoring of the article. What really exists to stop people from lying? What is there to prevent them from taking advantage of us?

If we can't trust our guards, how come we can so easily trust our truth?

Be skeptical. Be aware.