text: The `Truth` About Nicaragua? - tribunedigital-chicagotribune
  The `Truth` About Nicaragua?
  October 24, 1986|By Brian Greenberg.
  CHICAGO — The principled stand taken by Bernard Kalb may make it possible for others to compare democratic standards of truth and openness with those practiced by the Reagan administration. The practice of defining something as ``true`` because a spokesperson of the American government has announced it as such has produced a situation in which only the editorial pages of the newspapers challenge the reliability and accuracy of government information sources. Any government accorded the power to express its opinion and viewpoint with only a restricted and sporadic murmur of incredulity from the media will be tempted to drift further and further from a responsible presentation of ``facts.``
  The Libyan ``disinformation`` case is by no means a unique example of this distortion. Those monitoring the events in Central America recognize the gap between the administration`s viewpoint and a stubborn reality which contradicts it at virtually every turn. The tolerance of the print and television media for these ``contra`-dictions`` has led the administration to feel confident in disseminating a truly Orwellian double-speak as fact. Contras become ``freedom fighters,`` and their invasion of Nicaragua is transformed into a threat by Nicaragua against its neighbors. The President`s recent depiction of the Lincoln Brigades which fought Franco`s right-wing dictatorship as a model of American private support for the ultra-right contras is classic double-talk and an obvious contradiction.
  A more accurate comparison would be the Lincoln Brigades with the volunteers in Nicaragua assisting with medical programs, education and economic development. As in the Spanish civil war, their efforts are against the forces and residues of a right wing dictatorship. Their volunteer commitment to a cause is hardly comparable to the mercenary contra army, aside from the complete opposition of their moral and political positions from those of the contras.
  The ability of the government to create ``facts`` and ``truth`` even when these invert documented historical evidence is a major erosion of the credibility of a democratic system. As the President has pointed out, we are all free to voice our opinions in this society. The problem comes when the opinions of powerful persons are reconstituted as a truth. In this case, those of the President bear no relationship to those elusive entities.