Deepfakes, Identity, and the Collapse of Reality

Audio By Carbonatix

A video circulating recently on social media appears to show the late comedian George Carlin delivering a razor-sharp critique of political tribalism. In the clip, “Carlin” argues that when ideology becomes identity, people defend their ideas not because they’re true, but because those ideas have become indistinguishable from who they are. Evidence becomes optional. And doubling down on falsehood becomes a survival mechanism because disagreements are now existential struggles. Carlin makes a striking point—one that resonates across political and cultural divides. But the video is completely fake.

The clip is an AI-generated deepfake mimicking Carlin’s voice, gestures, and comedic style. Many who reshared it—including the user who propelled it into viral circulation—initially believed it was real, only later admitting they’d been fooled. Yet the message took off anyway, because Carlin’s cultural heft gave it momentum.

The words were insightful. The messenger was artificial. The video’s virality uncovers a deep cultural contradiction. Particularly striking is the obviousness of the fakery. Though often crass, Carlin is considered amongst the greatest stand-up comedians of all time. When he died in 2008 at the age of 71, it was hardly obscure news. So when a video of Carlin chiding 2020s cultural developments surfaced, red flags ought to have risen. And yet, the deepfake, illegitimate video spread.

It’s difficult to imagine a clearer picture of the cultural vertigo society is experiencing. The message warns that we have lost our grip on stable identity. The medium demonstrates that we have also begun to lose our grip on stable reality. A real truth is packaged in a false vessel, and people click “share” because the messenger looks familiar enough to bypass skepticism.

Because so many have fused ideology with identity, they are now so desperately fragile that they overlook an obvious deepfake because it fortifies their thinning sense of self. This is what I call reality collapse. When anything can be fabricated, everything becomes questionable. When even the dead can be made to say whatever we want them to say, the line between truth and illusion becomes dangerously flexible. That erosion of confidence in the real world devolves our post-truth culture into a more post-trust culture—one in which even genuine truths are dismissed because they emerge in an environment so saturated with manipulation that trust becomes elusive.

But there is a way to fortify our identities, to anchor them in something stabler than ideology. We once thought of humans as robust beings who have souls. Over time, we de-spiritualized and over-psychologized humanity, thinning the soul down to the idea of the “self.” In the past few decades, we’ve whittled down what it means to be human to the paper-thin concept of identity—a concept no thicker than the ideology-screaming bumper stickers that pock-mark our Subarus. We’ve become so thin that we need deepfake Carlins to feel substantial.

By contrast, the biblical understanding of humanity retains its robustness. As souls made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), we are anchored to that which is transcendent, able to withstand the circumstantial ideological winds that would otherwise destabilize us. From being made in God’s image, we conform our attitudes and conduct to the example of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15) and “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3). That anchoring allows us to separate ideology from our ontology. We no longer need personal validation from forgeries because we recognize that our personhood has been forged in truth and redeemed by the person who is the truth.

In a world of deepfakes, counterfeits, and collapsing trust, Christians have the opportunity to model a better way—not by withdrawing from cultural discourse, but by entering it with clarity, humility, and the credibility that comes from rooting identity in the only foundation strong enough to bear it.

The deepfake Carlin video reminds us that a culture chasing artificial identity will inevitably drift toward artificial reality. But it also reminds us that truth still resonates, even when wrapped in illusion. The task before us is to re-anchor truth in the One who cannot be faked—and to rebuild trust on that Foundation.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Abdu Murray.

Related Resource: The Phony Age: Navigating Digital Deception, Noise, and the Need for Wisdom

Can we still spot the truth in a world that specializes in counterfeits? In this episode of Thinking Christian, James Spencer and Nate unpack the unsettling implications of the internet’s influence on our minds, our trust, and our discipleship. Sparked by a recent conversation between Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris, this discussion explores digital phoniness, the collapse of institutional gatekeepers, and what it means to be spiritually discerning in an era of deepfakes, dopamine loops, and constant distraction.

From TikTok’s "time to take a break" alerts to the moral hazards of algorithmic influence, James and Nate reflect on personal habits, cultural decay, and the need for sufficient constraints—not to restrict, but to preserve wisdom, sanity, and faithfulness. They also draw provocative comparisons between digital chaos and the clarity of Christian doctrine, challenging listeners to anchor themselves in truth that isn’t memeable. Listen in, and be sure to follow Thinking Christian, on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Supatman 

John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.