From The Prison Notebooks & Truth and Power

Chatngern Srivarom
ASA 4

Both of the readings point out that "truth" and "common sense" are not the same everywhere. Truth and common sense are subjective among societies. For example, people in China believe different things about the world than Americans because of the censorship in China. Truth also manifests in other ways, such as culture and religion. Growing up in a certain cultures makes you believe that the status quo of the culture is the truth and common sense. When I immigrated to the United States from Thailand, I was surprised by how different the thinking of Americans was from Thais. In Thailand, most people accept Buddhism as the only truth, while in the United States most people accept Christianity as the only truth. It shows that truth is subjective to societies that control them. This conflict in religion caused me to lose my faith in religion, but it brought me to question more about what truth is outside of what society tells you what it is. People should question the truth and challenge societal norms more to learn and grow into a better person and improve society as a whole.