How We Know What We Know

Most people know something is true because an expert has deemed it a fact or an inarguable truth based on science and calculation. However, often what we know isn't really a truth or fact, but simply a strong belief. For example, you never really contend what Grandma says, so eating fish actually does make you a faster swimmer (or at least that's what my grandma told me when I was six so I would eat fish). In addition to Grandma's well-intentioned lies, the media pours out thousands of "truths" on every commercial, billboard, package, and any other advertisement. Since we live in the most capitalistic nation of the world, product advertisers dole out ample amounts of time, resources, and money to get as many consumers to believe that what they are selling actually works. MeSoThin Pills really will take you from a size 14 to a size 00 in 45 minutes, right? Why would anyone buy the pill if the commercial didn't prove that it worked by featuring a once plus-sized, now ano-looking, ex-playmate dancing on the red carpet fondling a bottle of the advertised product? "Truth" becomes anything we have seen enough times for it to be ingrained or heard incontestably from someone who knows better than us. What we know is the same as what we believe, and our realities are simply manifestations of these beliefs.