An Amusing Incoherence

A piece of "fake news" at the satirical site The Babylon Bee does a fine job of pointing out the incoherence of many postmoderns who reject the existence of objective moral absolutes and yet complain about dishonesty and corruption in politics and the media.

Here's the Bee's faux news report:

Sources from within the United States confirmed Friday that American society, while typically rejecting concepts like absolute truth and objective moral standards, is suddenly showing grave concern for the rise of fabricated news stories after a reported uptick in fake news during the recent election season and President Trump’s habit of using the term to describe many mainstream media outlets.

One Oregon man, who rejects the idea that humanity can even be sure the universe exists in any meaningful sense, was nonetheless disturbed by the idea that websites could publish completely false information, for anyone in the world to read.

“It’s just absolutely wrong, in my opinion,” said the man who doesn’t believe in absolute ideals of right and wrong at all. “What if someone reads the information and gets like, deceived? That just seems totally wicked.”

“It just doesn’t seem right that they can publish stuff that’s just blatantly not true,” added the man, who also noted his firm belief that everyone has the right to define their own version of truth.

Other Americans agreed, stating that the idea that shady news sites could get away with reporting completely inaccurate information was “disturbing” and “evil,” before stressing their belief that no one individual’s notions about morality are absolute or binding in any meaningful sense.

Tech conglomerates such as Facebook and Google have vowed to meet the trend head-on, assuring the public that they are taking bold steps to filter out any news that contradicts the version of truth that they decide is acceptable.

The Bee is making a humorous jab at a serious incoherence in our contemporary society. If there are no objective moral rights and wrongs then moral outrage at lies and injustice is an absurdity.

We might wonder about all those folks demanding justice and equitable treatment on the streets of our cities whether they accept the idea that all moral claims are simply subjective preferences, matters of taste, and if so, why they think anyone should heed their call to accept their particular subjective moral preferences.