Brody's Truth Blog

Friends and family are often confused by the honors courses I take at TCU. Every semester someone asks, “What even is that class and why are you taking it?” This course was no different. Trying to explain that we were studying witch hunts, mass delusions, fraud, deep fakes, and social media only made them more bewildered. But from the start, I knew it was a class I would enjoy, and the journey throughout the semester confirmed that. What made the biggest impact on me was how much understanding truth requires looking to the past. Studying the Salem Witch Hunt made it clear how fear, rumor, and group pressure can construct an entire false reality. It was not just a historical episode but a template for how quickly communities today can slip into panic or misinformation. The Millerite Movement and the White Slavery Panic added depth to that pattern, showing that people commit to powerful stories even when evidence is thin. Hope, fear, and urgency win more often than logic. Our unit on his...

 For this project, I didn’t just send out a link and wait. I literally stood there while people filled out my survey on truth, which instantly turned a simple assignment into a social experiment. The survey was anonymous but watching people react in real time told me almost as much as their answers did. The funniest part was how different people responded based on how well I knew them. My close friends barely blinked. They skimmed the questions, shrugged, and clicked their answers like it was no big deal, almost like being honest was easier because they trusted I wasn’t judging them. The people I didn’t know as well. Way different. They hesitated, reread the questions, and gave these nervous half-smiles before choosing anything. You could tell they were trying to figure out the “right” answer, even though I couldn’t see what they clicked. There was also a pretty clear difference between guys and girls. The guys were more straightforward quick taps, no explanation, no second-guess...