'Political language....is designed to make lies sound truthful.....and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.'
George Orwell
I’ve been writing daily and posting what I’ve written for almost six months now and you know what? I’ve come to the realization that what is behind most of what I have written is that I am simply tired of being lied to.
Look at climate change as an example. It is now established that there was all kinds of fraudulent science and misinformation behind much of the data that was released in support of hysterical claims of global warming. In some quarters, those claims persist even as it is also now established that the warming period seems to have peaked and the earth has been cooling over the past decade.
Consider the claim that the wealthy don’t pay enough in taxes? What a hoot that one is. Even President Obama jumped on that opportunity with his ‘Buffet Rule’ even as he took full advantage of the tax system to reduce his personal tax liability. The myth is thrown around quite freely but according to the IRS, it just isn’t true. Figures published on the IRS web site show that the top 5% wage earners actually paid 58% of all income tax collected by the IRS. More significantly, the bottom 20% of income earners received $8.00 in direct and indirect benefits for every dollar they paid in tax while the top 20% income earners received less than $1.00 for every dollar of tax they paid.
The tax system is overly complex, expensive to manage and incredibly unfair to all tax payers but rather than address that, politicians and special interest groups who benefit from that complexity continue to put forward the myth that it is the rich who are not paying their fair share. They are an easy and popular target and it is that mythology that special interest uses to protect its entitlements or rationalize new ones and one of the lies some politicians use to get themselves reelected.
Simplifying the tax code and making it equitable for everyone would force special interest groups to start earning their own way like the rest of us, while politicians would have to depend on merit as the key reason for getting elected rather than bribing us with our own money.
That, my friends, isn’t going to happen any time soon, so don’t hold your breath.
That, my friends, isn’t going to happen any time soon, so don’t hold your breath.
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| News has become entertainment |
Even the media lies to us as we saw recently with the hysterical and over-the-top biased coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting. What an absolute disgrace that coverage turned out to be. Honest, accurate journalism and objective analysis has been replaced by treating news like entertainment and by commentary that is little more than a personal soapbox from which to give vent to all manner of prejudice and misinformation.
The fallout from that, of course, is a loss of trust in the integrity of what the media report on anything.
In fact, that’s the fallout from all of the self-serving lies and misinformation being put out by one group or another in support of their particular ideology or cause.
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| Can you tell which are conservative or liberal? |
Here are some simple truths.
The left is not comprised solely of socialist beggars looking for free handouts. To be sure there are some but most people who vote the liberal agenda are decent, hard-working folks who believe in social justice and want a better society for their families and neighbours.
The left is not comprised solely of socialist beggars looking for free handouts. To be sure there are some but most people who vote the liberal agenda are decent, hard-working folks who believe in social justice and want a better society for their families and neighbours.
Likewise, the right is not solely comprised of fascist extremists or religious fanatics who only believe in God, guns and keeping the poor….poor. Most who vote the conservative agenda are decent folks who simply believe in self-responsibility and enjoying the results of their labour without interference from government. While many on the left don’t like to admit it, many on the right are also very supportive of social safety nets for the disadvantaged and other issues that many on the left also support.
Not all students are whining, self-absorbed, spoiled brats looking for a free ride. Many are responsible, hard-working individuals who have assumed full responsibility for the challenges of financing and completing their university education. I admire them.
And, as hard as it is for most of us to accept, there are even some in the Occupy Movement who are sincere and honest people with jobs and who are non-violent. They are simply trying to call attention to their cause, as poorly defined and focused as most of us may believe that cause may be.All of these folks have one thing in common. You can talk to them. You might not come to agreement on how to resolve certain issues but you can discuss the issues and debate them without all the hysterical, accusatory rhetoric that is the sole weapon in the arsenal of those who know they aren’t being honest with you.
I have many friends and colleagues who think I’m wrong on some of the issues, as hard as that is for you and I to believe. We get along extremely well nonetheless because we are honest with each other and respect each other’s opinions. We also feel free to laugh together at our own foibles and laughter is even more unifying than sex…………….and almost as much fun.
You can’t laugh with liars for very long, if at all, and their sex is only self-serving. They’re out to screw you and that’s that! Most of them won‘t even kiss you before they take advantage of you.
We have too many like that in our society today.
Too many politicians, academics, union leaders, activists, religious fanatics and just plain, uniformed people who hide behind half-truths and outright lies to achieve their objectives, get their hands on money they haven’t earned or to advance some failed cause or other.
Too many politicians, academics, union leaders, activists, religious fanatics and just plain, uniformed people who hide behind half-truths and outright lies to achieve their objectives, get their hands on money they haven’t earned or to advance some failed cause or other.
They tend to be driven by vested self-interest, by emotion rather than thoughts and ideas or by what is expedient rather than what is right and it is fairly easy to spot them.
They tend to be divisive rather than unifying. Polarization works in their favour by keeping people running on feelings rather than facts. Politicians and activists are particularly fond of this tactic, as are most labour unions.
They are people who prefer to blame others for their problems rather than working with others who hold differing opinions to find real solutions.. They are the ones most likely to confuse what the believe for what they actually know and who are among the first to shout down your opinions, and deny your right to express them, while demanding you respect their right to express theirs. These are the most self-righteous and you'll find most extreme activist groups out there on the outer edges of the right and the left..
They’re beliefs tend to be among the most fragile because deep down inside they instinctively know that they don’t have much to support what they want to believe or are demanding from others. They yell, they bully and they bluster in the hope that neither you nor they themselves see the truth. In other words, these are the people who usually lie to themselves before they lie to everyone else.
They’re beliefs tend to be among the most fragile because deep down inside they instinctively know that they don’t have much to support what they want to believe or are demanding from others. They yell, they bully and they bluster in the hope that neither you nor they themselves see the truth. In other words, these are the people who usually lie to themselves before they lie to everyone else.
Some are just flat out crooks who are only interested in taking your money and will say and do pretty much anything to get it.
But the easiest way to spot them is by how quickly they are prepared to rationalize illegal or immoral behaviour to justify their actions. These are people who believe that the rule of law only applies when it supports their cause or is expedient.
Justice is always one of the first casualties of people who believe that the ends justify the means.
Our democracies are led by such people and by many who either have no consistent values or who work overtime to ignore the values they were taught.
It is not serving us well in government, business, labour or academia. Even some in our court systems have lost sight of the true meaning of the word justice.
This was driven home to me recently by the jailing of a 17 year old rape victim who was incarcerated in order to compel her to testify against her assailant. Despite the fact that she had been brutally victimized by her rapist, the prosecutor was able to justify victimizing this young girl a second time because he believed the ends justified the means. There is nothing honest or decent about that and we are all demeaned by it and should feel shamed that such a thing could happen in a free society.
This was driven home to me recently by the jailing of a 17 year old rape victim who was incarcerated in order to compel her to testify against her assailant. Despite the fact that she had been brutally victimized by her rapist, the prosecutor was able to justify victimizing this young girl a second time because he believed the ends justified the means. There is nothing honest or decent about that and we are all demeaned by it and should feel shamed that such a thing could happen in a free society.
In the end, the only hope we have is that lies are more fragile than truth simply because lies have no substance and can be exposed and defeated by the truth. The truth is substantive because it based on fact. It requires nothing but itself to exist. It remains the truth regardless of the lies that are put forward to try and obscure it.
Truth cannot be changed simply by lying about it. It may be overlooked, it may be ignored but unlike lies which have to be constantly reinforced by more lies, the truth stands on its own merit.
In the end, the old adage is true. The truth shall set you free and all of those who claim to want to build a better society with freedom, justice and equality for all would do well to remember that.
Trying to create a better life for the world on a foundation of lies and half-truths is like building your house on a foundation of sand. Sooner or later, that house will sink and be lost.Nothing real can be built out of anything that doesn't actually exist and lies are merely words that blow on angry winds. In the end, they just blow away and leave nothing of value behind.
"Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
- George Orwell
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