“Unique Truth,” Abortion, and Terrorism

The idea that each of us has a “unique truth” instead of going by objective standards has more serious consequences than a corrupt governor giving a preposterous speech:

"My truth is that I am a gay American,'' announced Gov. James McGreevey to the people of New Jersey last Thursday.

That's such an exquisitely contemporary formulation: ''my'' truth. Once upon a time, there was only ''the'' truth. Now everyone gets his own — or, as the governor put it, ''One has to look deeply into the mirror of one's soul and decide one's unique truth in the world.''

Subjectivist philosophies have given us a world where the right to life of somebody who hasn't been born yet depends on somebody else's emotional reaction. They have given us a world where perceived humiliation is an excuse to explode.