Two honest witnesses can report opposite truths about the same event

Evidence

A famous Esu tale: Esu walked down a road between two friends’ fields wearing a cap that was red on one side and black (or white) on the other. Afterward the two friends fell to quarreling — one swore a man in a RED cap had passed, the other insisted it was a BLACK cap — until they came to blows, each certain the other was lying, though both had seen truly. Esu had shown them that the truth depends on where you stand, that two honest people can see the same thing differently, and that certainty and pride can turn friends into enemies. The trickster as the teacher of perspective itself. — , A Year of World Stories, 14793

Categorization

• XREF: A perfect object lesson for standpoint epistemology; connects to the reader’s knowledge of Black Marxism and feminist standpoint theory. — connects to: Contradictory perceptions can both be true simultaneously — , A Year of World Stories, 4077; Hearsay is less reliable than direct eyewitness and causes most human trouble — , A Year of World Stories, 11338; People unconsciously avoid confronting evidence that contradicts their sense of safety — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 229 (+6 more)
• SEED: A piece on how ‘the truth depends on where you stand’ appears in philosophy, law (eyewitness testimony), and folklore alike — with the Esu tale as the ancient anchor.

Related

• Contradictory perceptions can both be true simultaneously (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Interviewing techniques can render children’s testimony unreliable. #contradicts (0.50) — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 1578
• People unconsciously avoid confronting evidence that contradicts their sense of safety #corroborates (0.40) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 229
• Truth serum torture destroys victims’ capacity to distinguish true from false #contradicts (0.35)
• Audiences can decode the same message in a globally contrary or oppositional way #qualifies (0.30)