The American people do love their wars. Every few years there’s a new “war” declared on one thing or other that the news media pick up, run with and replay to death. “The War on ______________” (fill in the blank) is always on the socio-political menu somewhere, somehow in the United States, like a perpetual soup d’jour.

Scan the news and the Internet these days and you find no lack of such wars. A perennial favorite is The War on Drugs, which the U.S. government purports to be dutifully fighting (at the same time that U.S. government agencies are actively but covertly involved in the global drug trade). There’s also The War on Cancer, The War on the Common Cold, The War on Poverty, The War on Illiteracy, The War on Pornography — yes, even a “War on War” and a “War on Peace”. And of course, we all know by now about The War on Terror and the toll it has taken on the world.

I don’t buy these kinds of “War on ______________” (never have), and I agree that we can dismiss most of these so-called “wars” as the creation of power-hungry, fear-driven people high up in business, politics and media. But there is one kind of war that I think we all need to start taking a little more seriously, lest we find ourselves in a very dangerous place in the not-too-distant future. I’m talking about what’s being called The War on Truth.

We are seeing very ominous signs that government agencies in the U.S. and in many other countries have less and less tolerance for those who investigate, report, expose or blow the whistle on unethical or illegal activities. A war on truth in the U.S. is being led at the very top by president Barack Obama, as best evidenced in his war on whistleblowers regarding national security issues, as well as in the cases involving WikiLeaks and the whistleblower formerly known as Bradley Manning.

Whether you are a journalist, government employee, company worker or just a concerned citizen anywhere in the world, you stand a much greater chance of being punished, investigated, spied on, harassed, brought before a court or put behind bars if you reveal something that someone, somewhere wants to keep hidden from the public. We can see plenty of examples in the news about this these days, and it’s a trend that seems be international in scope and certainly not limited to the United States.

Maybe it’s the power of the Internet to disseminate and publish information widely and instantly that is behind this increased paranoia and lack of tolerance for having the truth made public. I don’t know the exact reason why. But I do know what I see and I do know the direction we are headed in, and it concerns me enough to want to sound the alarm in whatever way I can.

If The War on Truth thrives on fear, hidden agendas and illicit and illegal activities, then what is the solution? That’s easy: more truth.

Keep putting the truth out there. Keep reporting, keep investigating, keep blowing the whistle on military and government corruption, and keep speaking truth to power. Speak your truth with courage and conviction, even if it means that you are isolated from circles of family, friends or colleagues. Do not be intimidated by threats of punishment — speak out more than ever. That is what I truly believe and what I try to practice myself in my work and in my own life.

As we all know, though, there is no one absolute truth. Truth always comes in shades of grey: One person’s Highest Truth is another person’s Grand Lie. In other words, don’t be self-righteous and fundamentalist (i.e., good versus evil) about possessing the truth, as some right-wing national TV media in the U.S. and elsewhere tend to be. Simply present, report and speak the truth with facts, evidence and explanation. The power inherent in truth cannot be denied and will speak for itself — and will reach people.

So that’s why I say: Fight back in The War on Truth. Now is not the time to keep silent. It is time for all people of good conscience to really start banding together and standing up to bullies at the highest levels who will not hesitate to destroy someone’s career or put an individual in prison to make the political landscape just a little quieter, a little more peaceable, a little less restless and a lot less questionable.

When the sledgehammers of authority stand poised and ready to crush noisy protesters, bloggers, reporters, citizens, workers, whistleblowers or whoever, then I would like to see all of us unite, stand up with our backs straight, rally around the intended victim and send back a very clear message of resistance, and support our defense with a good offense: the truth itself.

It is an overused cliché, to be sure, but “Know the truth and it will set you free” also happens to be quite true. I suspect that those in authority know that too, and that the thought of all us being set free from their webs of lies makes four-star generals, presidents, prime ministers, company chairmen, religious leaders and so many others more nervous than they would like to admit.

So, stand up and report more truth — the only antidote to fear and control. Unlike many of the dubious, media-created “wars” we see today, The War on Truth is one war that can be won by the simple act of shining more sunlight over and through the shadows. Let each one of us do whatever we can, in our own ways, to shine that light of Truth wherever it is needed.