The Attitude Lounge with Kodwo Brumpon: Half-truths

“He who cannot dance will say the drum is bad.” – African proverb

Another beautiful day has risen with its usual parade of activity and noise. And as always, we fill our minds with opinions, fragments of facts, and the colourful stories people generously sprinkle into conversations. We nod, we share, we forward, and we confidently repeat what we have only half-understood.

It feels good to sound informed. It feels empowering to believe we know enough. But are we verifying the knowledge we are absorbing? This may not be pleasant to hear. After all, nobody wants to be told that the knowledge they so proudly hold is insufficient. But the reality is that many of us walk about with half-truths.

These are far more dangerous than ignorance. Ignorance admits it knows nothing; but half-truth pretends it knows everything. And that pretense is what dims our intelligence, blinds judgment, and blocks the path to real solutions. We often console ourselves with the illusion that we ‘basically understand’ a situation.

A headline here, a rumour there, a casual comment wrapped in confidence, and suddenly we think we have the full picture. Deep down, we know we do not. But something in us finds comfort in the lazy simplicity of half-truths. They spare us the discomfort of thinking deeply, analysing carefully, or challenging our own assumptions. They let us remain asleep in the soft bed of shallow understanding.

Let us be honest with ourselves, half-truths make us intellectually stagnant. They strip us of the very strength that makes human beings innovators, problem-solvers, and creators of new possibilities. And let us be real. Half-truths are alluring because they do not demand accountability. They satisfy curiosity without requiring discipline.

They give us the illusion of wisdom without the labour of learning. But our refusal to interrogate what we hear does not make it true. And it certainly does not make us intelligent. A half-truth is a broken tool; it cannot build anything. It cannot fix anything. It can only mislead us.

That is why you should not be comfortable with easy answers or convenient explanations. Do not join the multitudes who repeat unverified claims with passion and conviction. It may feel satisfying in the moment, but it weakens your mind. It reduces your ability to reason. It dulls your capacity to discern truth from noise. Half-truths also have a peculiar arrogance. They parade themselves as complete, while hiding the missing pieces that contain the real power.

Because of this, they kill progress. They make us chase shadows. They push societies to waste time on the wrong debates, wrong battles, and wrong solutions. We vote based on half-truths. We make financial decisions based on half-truths. We accuse, judge, label, and condemn based on half-truths. And then we wonder why things do not change, why our problems persist, and why confusion reigns.

What this means is that the reality of half-truths should challenge us to value clarity, depth, and honest inquiry. It should drive us to ask difficult questions, verify assumptions, and seek the full story even when it is uncomfortable. A person who demands whole truth becomes a person who sees further.

And the one who sees further is far more likely to find real solutions. We know that half-truths shrink the mind; and full truths expand it. Half-truths cloud judgment; but full truths sharpen it. Half-truths create illusion; whilst full truths create understanding. And understanding, true understanding is the birthplace of intelligence.

If we want to solve problems in our homes, workplaces, communities, and nations, then we must cultivate minds that hunger for complete truth. Not the convenient slices that confirm our biases. Not the sweetened versions that soothe our egos. But the whole truth is sometimes bitter, sometimes complex, sometimes uncomfortable. We know our humanity has never advanced through shallow thinking. Innovation, peace, justice, and progress all grew from the courage to think deeply, question boldly, and learn fully. Half-truths never built a bridge, cured a disease, won a war, or governed a nation wisely. Only the full truth has that power.

Today, your call is to understand that half-truths do not merely mislead you, they weaken you. They rob you of your ability to reason clearly, decide wisely, and lead confidently. The simple question is, will you be a vessel of shallow fragments or a well of full understanding? How many decisions in your life, and how many problems around you, remain unresolved simply because you have been operating with insufficient truths? When a mind embraces half-truths, it becomes like a seed planted in shallow soil. It may sprout, with noise and confidence, but it will not grow roots deep enough to bear fruit. A mind grounded in full truth, however, is like a seed planted near a stream, it grows strong, stable, and fruitful.

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Kodwo Brumpon is an executive coach at Polygon Oval, a forward-thinking Pan African management consultancy and social impact firm driven by data analytics, with a focus on understanding the extraordinary potential and needs of organisations and businesses to help them cultivate synergies, that catapults into their strategic growth, and certifies their sustainability.

Comments, suggestions, and requests for talks and training should be sent to him at [email protected]

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