darin
05-21-2014, 07:39 AM
"...then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you." John 8:32b (TheMessage)
I live within a society of liars and you live here beside me because outwardly, honesty is a virtue to the masses but secretly or not-so-secretly honesty is feared, loathed, rebuked, and forbidden.
From the elected leaders of our nation - our society, really - and their blatant unrepentant lies to the lies we spoon-feed our children, lying is an art form and lying is a skill sharpened upon the grinding wheel of immediate feelings of goodness. That is to say, we grind away truth and we sharpen our lies because sharp lies cut easier and neater and with less resistance than blunt, heavy truths (see famous lies: "GWB said we invaded Iraq 'because' Iraq had WMD!" see also: "Sarah Palin said she can see Russia from her house!" - both never happened, but the masses - our society - do not care).
We lie politically -
Most recently our elected President lied dozens of times to the American people regarding their health care. The nature of his lie is well-documented and I have less of a problem with his lying (Saying people can keep their doctor and their insurance if they (simply) WANT to keep it) AND less of a problem with his follow-on lie ('...I meant they can keep those IF the federal government decides the health care insurance people want is GOOD enough'. Stop lying. You know you are lying. You know the REAL answer is "Uh, Americans? I'm sorry. I am a chucklehead and spoke out of my ass without having read nor studied the law") but the thrust of my frustration aims squarely at the American people. By enough of a majority the American people are content with the President's lying. By enough of a majority the American people are letting that lie slide to their feet. Perhaps the ugly truth scares the lazy, uniformed masses. I would like to see a survey of 1000 Americans asking which group they claim to hate worse - the KKK or Congress. I would hedge my bet if asked - without naming the KKK specifically, and only describing some of the KKK beliefs - would pick 'congress' as a named-group they hate worse. Politicians lie because lying is a learned behaviour; lying is a means to an end. I do not believe every politician is power hungry and up to no good - moreover I believe politicians want to change the fabric of society so tell people what that specific audience wants to hear in an effort to get their votes.
There again are the liars. Nobody with enough votes 'hates' congress, because 'congress' is STILL there, congressing. When I speak to people who either have no stomach to choose a side or simply want the appearance of open-minded free thought and they tell me 'ALL politicians are terrible/lie/should be fired/pay cut/etc' I chuckle inside before I cry a little bit inside. The problem - the disease - is NOT our congressional representatives nor our President because the problem rests solely up on the collective shoulders of those doing the voting. Solely upon collective - that's a weird twist of words but my point stands. Our elected liars are doing their lying at the behest of our citizenry. The voting members of our society elect liars based on the lies-told them and they love it. A popular lie is the concept of 'throwing money' at a problem. For instance, some public schools 'fund raise' to save essential education elements like bands, and the arts. People campaign under slogans such as 'Lets increase our taxes to pay for band because band is important!". The lie happens when school districts - elected officials - tell the population they 'must' cut band because they lack revenue to support band all-the-while supporting absolutely bullshit teachers and teaching methods. Raising taxes will not save band. Raising taxes will only force those who may not wish to pay for band in school to in fact pay for band in school - until an elected representative decides for whatever reason the new amount of money is not sufficient. Lies wrapped in misleading statistics, finances, and capability. Another example is when politicians shamelessly pander to those of a certain point of view, and those holding that view are not smart enough to overlook hyperbole and gross simplification. Let's pretend a reprehensible representative exists; we'll call her Pancy Nelosi. Now, Nelosi introduces a law calling for expiration of 5th amendment rights (just for the sake of argument) AND for $100.00 (total, across the nation) to be given to poor kids. When another representative - let's call her Bichele Machmann - opposes the bill, Nelosi will immediately start crying to the lie-lovers "LOOK! Machmann has a WAR ON KIDS! Machmann is BLOCKING the bill supporting Poor kids!! She obviously is a Pedophobe!"
What happens? Our society is so-conditioned to love the lies dumb people start letter-writing campaigns and sit-ins and big-labor gets involved and eventually Machmann either apologizes and shuts-up-and-colours or she's voted out.
We lie socially -
From the elements that brought us the question 'does my butt look big in these pants?' flows undercurrents of socially-mandated lying. We tell our kids they can be ANYTHING they want in life. We tell our servers at restaurants 'Everything tastes great!' - we tell the cop we did not know how fast we were going. We tell our lover "that was FANTASTIC!".
With refusing honesty we betray the intent of, and disrespect relationships. Perhaps the lies keep us from facing certain unpleasant facts - perhaps we are unsatisfied with our relationships, our childhood, and our food to have crucial conversations with those around us. The fear of conflict drives the lie as I do my mate the disservice of dishonesty about her choice of jeans, about blocking my kids from realities of life, and the 'next' customer as he or she suffers through a terrible dinner.
My lover and my friends deserve honesty when asking for my honest opinion. Tact rules the day but honesty rules a lifetime. "Honey, maybe we see if we can find more complimentary jeans?" "Daughter, the dreams you have now will likely change before you are old enough or motivated enough to pursue those goals. If the dreams do not happen rest-assured other dreams will take their place. Further, nothing will be granted or gifted. If you want to BE special, you have to DO special things" "Officer, I was going 53 and I know the speed limit was 40. I have no excuse other than my own selfishness and thinking I would not get caught". "Honey, I enjoy being with you except I am eager to get to know other sides of you; maybe we consider...."; "Kids, No - Santa is not real but we do not need Santa. Santa is a great idea and the entire point of Christmas is to spend time with those you love; and share in goodness. Some of that involves gifts - but I will never reward you for 'being good' - in fact, I will train to you accept 'being good' as its own reward. When your mother and I gift to you we gift to you with the full appreciation of who you are as a person and the goodness you bring to our lives. We do not need a mythical Santa or the mythical date of Christ's birth to show love like this. Santa is good. Christ is better. Neither is the purpose for Christmas because the love we share is the purpose."
We lie in media. We see models who are not real but offer a glimmer of what could be if we purchased the product they pretend to use. Media is not the problem - the problem is people - you and me - society - responds to those advertisements. Human f'ing nature. We love the lie we are buying and we sleep at night holding-fast to the magic lying beans, dead-set they will grow our world to new heights and leave us with treasures. Only monsters appear and we buy-again knowing THIS time everything will work out.
We lie in our courts. People sue for the sake of settling out of court because they do something stupid and decide they are not at fault for tripping over a curb but the person who made the concrete and the person who installed the curb is liable financially because they "Should have known" people can trip over themselves.
We lie to ourselves. We play the victim because its easier to be the victim than the savior. The savior is not lazy and the savior is not taking time to 'relax' or go on the umpteenth vacation this year and the savior makes the hard decisions so we do not have to. Because we are victims.
Alas, there is no hope beyond a short life as human nature is what it is and gets only worse over each generation. We have power only to govern ourselves and shake ourselves awake from the matrix we call real-life. We must slap ourselves back to consciousness and return to fear of tyranny because the fear of tyranny might be life-saving. I read something like 3% of the population of the colonies actively battled for freedom, with maybe another 10% semi-actively or in supporting roles working for liberty.
Our self-made government system is the new England and our kings - however elected - will continue to press down upon the neck of the people all the while telling them to 'trust us...' because it's for our own good. And society will not struggle - struggling is hard work. We will let the death of libery wash over us until it becomes the new normal. Welcome, friends, to Fascism. Welcome to Communist China. Welcome to The New USA.
I live within a society of liars and you live here beside me because outwardly, honesty is a virtue to the masses but secretly or not-so-secretly honesty is feared, loathed, rebuked, and forbidden.
From the elected leaders of our nation - our society, really - and their blatant unrepentant lies to the lies we spoon-feed our children, lying is an art form and lying is a skill sharpened upon the grinding wheel of immediate feelings of goodness. That is to say, we grind away truth and we sharpen our lies because sharp lies cut easier and neater and with less resistance than blunt, heavy truths (see famous lies: "GWB said we invaded Iraq 'because' Iraq had WMD!" see also: "Sarah Palin said she can see Russia from her house!" - both never happened, but the masses - our society - do not care).
We lie politically -
Most recently our elected President lied dozens of times to the American people regarding their health care. The nature of his lie is well-documented and I have less of a problem with his lying (Saying people can keep their doctor and their insurance if they (simply) WANT to keep it) AND less of a problem with his follow-on lie ('...I meant they can keep those IF the federal government decides the health care insurance people want is GOOD enough'. Stop lying. You know you are lying. You know the REAL answer is "Uh, Americans? I'm sorry. I am a chucklehead and spoke out of my ass without having read nor studied the law") but the thrust of my frustration aims squarely at the American people. By enough of a majority the American people are content with the President's lying. By enough of a majority the American people are letting that lie slide to their feet. Perhaps the ugly truth scares the lazy, uniformed masses. I would like to see a survey of 1000 Americans asking which group they claim to hate worse - the KKK or Congress. I would hedge my bet if asked - without naming the KKK specifically, and only describing some of the KKK beliefs - would pick 'congress' as a named-group they hate worse. Politicians lie because lying is a learned behaviour; lying is a means to an end. I do not believe every politician is power hungry and up to no good - moreover I believe politicians want to change the fabric of society so tell people what that specific audience wants to hear in an effort to get their votes.
There again are the liars. Nobody with enough votes 'hates' congress, because 'congress' is STILL there, congressing. When I speak to people who either have no stomach to choose a side or simply want the appearance of open-minded free thought and they tell me 'ALL politicians are terrible/lie/should be fired/pay cut/etc' I chuckle inside before I cry a little bit inside. The problem - the disease - is NOT our congressional representatives nor our President because the problem rests solely up on the collective shoulders of those doing the voting. Solely upon collective - that's a weird twist of words but my point stands. Our elected liars are doing their lying at the behest of our citizenry. The voting members of our society elect liars based on the lies-told them and they love it. A popular lie is the concept of 'throwing money' at a problem. For instance, some public schools 'fund raise' to save essential education elements like bands, and the arts. People campaign under slogans such as 'Lets increase our taxes to pay for band because band is important!". The lie happens when school districts - elected officials - tell the population they 'must' cut band because they lack revenue to support band all-the-while supporting absolutely bullshit teachers and teaching methods. Raising taxes will not save band. Raising taxes will only force those who may not wish to pay for band in school to in fact pay for band in school - until an elected representative decides for whatever reason the new amount of money is not sufficient. Lies wrapped in misleading statistics, finances, and capability. Another example is when politicians shamelessly pander to those of a certain point of view, and those holding that view are not smart enough to overlook hyperbole and gross simplification. Let's pretend a reprehensible representative exists; we'll call her Pancy Nelosi. Now, Nelosi introduces a law calling for expiration of 5th amendment rights (just for the sake of argument) AND for $100.00 (total, across the nation) to be given to poor kids. When another representative - let's call her Bichele Machmann - opposes the bill, Nelosi will immediately start crying to the lie-lovers "LOOK! Machmann has a WAR ON KIDS! Machmann is BLOCKING the bill supporting Poor kids!! She obviously is a Pedophobe!"
What happens? Our society is so-conditioned to love the lies dumb people start letter-writing campaigns and sit-ins and big-labor gets involved and eventually Machmann either apologizes and shuts-up-and-colours or she's voted out.
We lie socially -
From the elements that brought us the question 'does my butt look big in these pants?' flows undercurrents of socially-mandated lying. We tell our kids they can be ANYTHING they want in life. We tell our servers at restaurants 'Everything tastes great!' - we tell the cop we did not know how fast we were going. We tell our lover "that was FANTASTIC!".
With refusing honesty we betray the intent of, and disrespect relationships. Perhaps the lies keep us from facing certain unpleasant facts - perhaps we are unsatisfied with our relationships, our childhood, and our food to have crucial conversations with those around us. The fear of conflict drives the lie as I do my mate the disservice of dishonesty about her choice of jeans, about blocking my kids from realities of life, and the 'next' customer as he or she suffers through a terrible dinner.
My lover and my friends deserve honesty when asking for my honest opinion. Tact rules the day but honesty rules a lifetime. "Honey, maybe we see if we can find more complimentary jeans?" "Daughter, the dreams you have now will likely change before you are old enough or motivated enough to pursue those goals. If the dreams do not happen rest-assured other dreams will take their place. Further, nothing will be granted or gifted. If you want to BE special, you have to DO special things" "Officer, I was going 53 and I know the speed limit was 40. I have no excuse other than my own selfishness and thinking I would not get caught". "Honey, I enjoy being with you except I am eager to get to know other sides of you; maybe we consider...."; "Kids, No - Santa is not real but we do not need Santa. Santa is a great idea and the entire point of Christmas is to spend time with those you love; and share in goodness. Some of that involves gifts - but I will never reward you for 'being good' - in fact, I will train to you accept 'being good' as its own reward. When your mother and I gift to you we gift to you with the full appreciation of who you are as a person and the goodness you bring to our lives. We do not need a mythical Santa or the mythical date of Christ's birth to show love like this. Santa is good. Christ is better. Neither is the purpose for Christmas because the love we share is the purpose."
We lie in media. We see models who are not real but offer a glimmer of what could be if we purchased the product they pretend to use. Media is not the problem - the problem is people - you and me - society - responds to those advertisements. Human f'ing nature. We love the lie we are buying and we sleep at night holding-fast to the magic lying beans, dead-set they will grow our world to new heights and leave us with treasures. Only monsters appear and we buy-again knowing THIS time everything will work out.
We lie in our courts. People sue for the sake of settling out of court because they do something stupid and decide they are not at fault for tripping over a curb but the person who made the concrete and the person who installed the curb is liable financially because they "Should have known" people can trip over themselves.
We lie to ourselves. We play the victim because its easier to be the victim than the savior. The savior is not lazy and the savior is not taking time to 'relax' or go on the umpteenth vacation this year and the savior makes the hard decisions so we do not have to. Because we are victims.
Alas, there is no hope beyond a short life as human nature is what it is and gets only worse over each generation. We have power only to govern ourselves and shake ourselves awake from the matrix we call real-life. We must slap ourselves back to consciousness and return to fear of tyranny because the fear of tyranny might be life-saving. I read something like 3% of the population of the colonies actively battled for freedom, with maybe another 10% semi-actively or in supporting roles working for liberty.
Our self-made government system is the new England and our kings - however elected - will continue to press down upon the neck of the people all the while telling them to 'trust us...' because it's for our own good. And society will not struggle - struggling is hard work. We will let the death of libery wash over us until it becomes the new normal. Welcome, friends, to Fascism. Welcome to Communist China. Welcome to The New USA.