"There's a saying that a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can hit someone's lips."
In his most directly indirect response since allegations surfaced of a sordid hot tub affair with 22-year-old Sara Leal in September, Ashton Kutcher turned to social networking site chime.in Wednesday to share his thoughts on honesty, integrity and the media in a candid video post. Wearing a Chicago Bears hoodie and sporting a shaggy beard, the actor -- still married to wife Demi Moore of six years -- became philosophical as he discussed a recent text he had been reading, which discussed the bastardaziation of religion and spirituality as it pertained to the cost of printing literature.
In the 3:55 minute video, Ashton -- who is a well-known investor in tech start-ups like FourSquare and Flipboard -- doesn't mention specific names but states that in today's current social media environment, one is responsible for distributing his or her own truth.
"I started thinking about that in relation to social media and media today. The threshold to have literature printed and distributed -- the cost structure went down to zero dollars. Thereby, there is no gatekeeper of the truth. We are our own editors, and our own publishers. We are our own printers. Therefore people can bastardize the truth in any way, shape or truth they want," Ashton said, speaking in a low voice and directly facing the camera.
Ashton and Demi were last seen together on an intimate Kaballah camping trip in mid-October. But with the couple remaining mum and Sara Leal spilling her story and lurid details about unprotected sex to the presses, one can't help but instantly place Ashton's soul-searching monologue into its current context, and derive deeper meaning from his words -- especially from this last bit:
"We really have to take it upon ourselves to instill a level of honesty in our works and the media we create and we share with each other. And be certain we are doing our own diligence to ensure what we're saying is for the benefit of another...using our full capacity to share the truth."
