Tag: lies

Post-Truth

America, Media, Morality, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

Irrespective of religion, one of the bedrocks of human morality and conduct is the rule, “Thou shalt not lie.” On the Decalogue it was worded “Thou shalt not bear false witness” but only the most ardent cynic would argue that the two phrases aren’t equivalent. Begs one to ask, “What is Truth?”. Regrettably, and sadly, today lying in all its forms is so common that Truth is completely obscured.

Truth is reality. Truth is fact. Truth is truth whether one believes it or not, whether all mankind believes it or not. It is eternal. It is immutable. There is no such thing as “my truth” as one political moron once suggested.

Truth doesn’t come in shades, different colors, isn’t nuanced, isn’t relative. It doesn’t have to be subjected to scrutiny or scientific testing. It is possible that there are truths undiscovered. Consider that as late as the 17th century China still believed the Earth was flat. Irrespective of their BELIEF that the Earth is flat, the TRUTH was and is that it is a sphere. So, the Truth of the Earth’s form wasn’t discovered by the Chinese for millennia but it was still Truth!

Lying, on the other hand, comes in many forms: outright falsehood, omission, misrepresentation, incomplete recounting, deception, misdirection, dissembling, extraction without context, “white”, and today’s favorite form – ‘spin’.

EVERYONE is guilty of lying. As with so many things, however, it is a question of degree. And, I would add, it’s a question of perspective.

I submit the Left utilize lying at a rate and in a quantity many times that of the Right. Consciously, with the argument that “the ends justify the means” continuously in mind, the Left lies almost non-stop. As a group, the class of vermin called professional politicians routinely lie, but the Left does so audaciously, consistently and arrogantly. They believe that if they shout and accuse, bludgeon and scream their words, THAT, in and of itself, creates Truth. They believe that if they say things often enough with catchy phraseology, it will become Truth.

And in the minds of the weak, it does.

Add to the propensity for falsehood the age-old psychological disorder called Projection, the amplification and megaphone aspect of the Internet, the sycophant and pandering broadcast and print media and the addictive and intoxicating dystopian impact of Social Media, and the Left wields far more influence than the Right. Like a steamroller, the Left crushes Truth and replaces it with “their” truth…a demented and sick, narcissistic, megalomaniacal and condescending view of the world that has consistently resulted in enslavement and attempts to suppress free will.

Using its finely honed skill at lying, its legions of mouthpieces all voicing the canon, the Left successfully destroyed the integrity of our election process. They’ve been working on it for decades. They almost got away with it in 2016, and they have provisionally gotten away with it in 2020. In terms of societal destruction, they’ve gone into hyper-drive, seeking to complete the “fundamental transformation” of our country and Western society.

It truly has become a world “post-truth”. Not just moral relativism abounds – EVERYTHING is now relative, even gender.

It is madness and while many of us sane people on the Right like to discount the lunacy as transient, to be rectified in 2022 and 2024, the damage being done to our culture and country, even if repaired, will leave scars and doubt for generations to come. It is the pattern of all great civilizations: from struggle for existence to relative peace to conflict of envy to moral decay to economic decline to war to extinction. In America today we’re for the most part watching the death of Good and the rise of Evil as if it were a sitcom…something that’s happening “out there” rather than in our own backyard.

But it IS happening, and part of the Post-Truth era is convincing the weak that the destruction they’re seeing with their own eyes, experiencing in their own lives, is either not really happening or is GOOD for them!

And all of it can be traced back, in large part, to the lies of the Left. From the lies of the 60’s: “Free” love, “Turn On, Tune Out, Drop Out”, “LSD will open your mind man…”, “All you need is love”, to the lies of today: “The crisis at the border is Trump and the Republicans’ fault,” “COVID-19 spontaneously jumped from bats in a wet market to humans”, “Job training (the unions’ welfare plan) equals infrastructure”, “Police are fascists,” etc., the use of high-production-value visuals, music, narrative and clever slogans constitute a tsunami of lies that have successfully brain-washed the weak-minded and elevated the demagogues.

I fear it’s going to take a cataclysmic shock for America to wake up and regain its ability to separate Truth from Lies. Until that time we will continue to live in a Post-Truth, Post-Reality world. Thankfully, mankind has something called “discernment”. If used, along with Free Will, it may yet save itself from a repeat of history.

Spin vs. Lies

Headlines, Morality, Politics, Religion

As I have often stated, one can find evidence of what I’ll call “bad stuff”: bad rhetoric, bad behavior, on both sides of the political spectrum. However, the AMOUNT of bad stuff rendered by the Left dwarfs by several orders of magnitude the amount from the Right. Often it’s difficult to discern what is “spin” or trying to cast things in the best light, versus falsehood. What’s so extraordinary right now is that the Left doesn’t even try to ‘spin’ anymore. They out and out lie and expect cover from a sycophant main street media.

For instance, let’s take Trump’s spin on not disclosing his income tax returns. Anyone who prepares a long form tax return knows that even if it’s permissible to publish them in the middle of an audit, it’d be completely stupid to do so. Being under audit means there’s a dispute with the IRS and the last thing anyone should do is go public with their numbers…it would obviously prejudice the negotiations against the taxpayer!

Now, could there be other reasons why Trump wouldn’t want to disclose his returns? Yes, because returns require that one disclose assets, under penalty of perjury, and the VALUATION of an asset is always subjective. Trump says he is worth $10 billion. That could be true, if his assets are worth more than the difference between their value and his total debt (that’s the very definition of “worth”). Could the accountants and the IRS disagree on their value? Absolutely, and he may really be worth anywhere from nothing to some amount far greater than $10 billion. It doesn’t matter. He’s obviously rich, made a lot of money as a real estate developer, and paid a LOT in taxes over the years. The $750 canard is an attempt by the Left to suggest he paid little to no tax. Again, anyone with any knowledge of tax return preparation knows that amounts paid and amounts due vary tremendously across multiple years, and it’s entirely possible that Trump would have paid millions one year and not only pay nothing in a subsequent year, but even get a refund! Is he trying to spin this situation to cast things in the best light? Of course he is! But I’ll bet the accountants and tax attorneys working on his returns and negotiating with the IRS are doing everything they can to AVOID taxes, which is perfectly legal and appropriate for ANYONE to do in the U.S., rather than EVADE taxes, which is of course illegal!

Contrast the example of spin, described above, with Biden’s outright lies, which are deliberate falsehoods meant to deceive and deflect from the truth. These have been documented widely. Rather than reproduce them here, I’ll simply point you to the October 23, 2020 National Review article entitled “Biden Lies Again and Again” available here. Note, by the way, that the National Review is no tabloid.

The Left, as I’ve said before, will do ANYTHING, including outright lie, to achieve power. Biden, the consummate career politician, will do and continues to do the same.

That so many Americans will vote to grant power to the Democrats in this election is evidence of how effective their lying has been and how gullible so many have become. Just about half of the electorate now consists of voters who are either brainwashed, asleep, so anxious to be liked they have become lemmings, following the ‘woke’ celebrities with whom they’d like to identify, or, unfortunately, so lazy they’ll just vote the way they always have, or the way they were raised to vote. Never mind they’re shooting themselves in some vulnerable, private part, it’s more important that they be either anti-Trump or have the same signs as their neighbors than do what’s in their best self-interest, or in the interest of the country.

Optimistically, I don’t think the majority of Americans fall under the above description. Rather, they’re so busy working to take care of themselves and their families they don’t participate in polls, don’t talk about what they think, and don’t care what the ‘woke’ crowd says or does. It’s a small majority, regrettably, but a majority nonetheless. Because of the way the electoral map’s arithmetic works, it’s obvious that having more of the popular vote from New York, California and Illinois can and will still result in a victory for the Right on November 3rd. I’m quietly confident, however, this time the silent majority will speak up and the Right will win the popular vote as well as the electoral vote, resulting in a clear MANDATE (more on this in the future) to continue to reject Leftism.

Lies and Damned Lies

Morality, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

Failing to convince half the country that its ideology is replete with “progressive” truth and right, the Left now bypass nuance or even lip-service to honesty and just outright lie to our faces.

I’ve previously railed against economists and statisticians, so I’ll leave off the last third of Mark Twain’s famous statement: “There are three kinds of lies in the world: lies, damned lies and statistics.” I’m going to focus on the first two, which are rampantly manifest in virtually every form of media: print, radio, video and social medium.

It used to be called “spin”. In business schools around the country is was called “creative misrepresentation”. In its most benign form, it was called “casting the facts in the best light”.

Today it’s unvarnished, unsubtle lies.

The Left, masters of form over function, appearance versus reality and impression-creation, use media to touch the heartstrings and sensibilities of “root for the underdog” -fundamentally-good-people, convincing them that their causes and crusades are fair and just, and anything that opposes them are immoral.

It’s not just political theater. It’s mass manipulation.

With great drama and conviction, the Left proclaims as facts things they themselves know are false.

By repeating the lies over and over again, progressively (.sic) increasing the volume level and saturating the media with them, the Left seeks to steamroller their ideology over truth. Even truths that would be obvious and clear to any thinking human being are crushed by the onslaught.

I’m not going to a provide a laundry list of examples…to anyone reading this who has half a brain, the lies are obvious. Rather, I’m going to suggest two approaches for dealing with them depending on whether a) one just wants to be left alone to do what he or she knows is right or b) be an aggressive defender of and fighter for the truth.

For those of us who are simply too busy working hard, raising our families, supporting our neighbors and communities, and who aren’t news junkies suffering continuous blood pressure spikes, here’s my simple advice. IGNORE it all! Just keep doing what’s right, teaching your children the real truth, gently (if possible) correcting the nonsense they’re being taught at school, keep the tv turned off, and to the extent possible, ban all forms of social media from cell phones, tablets, laptops and other conduits to the superhighway of falsehoods called the internet.

For those of us who want to fight…put on the strongest psychological armor you possess, arm yourself with anecdotes, quips, one-liners and witty rejoinders (remember, facts will get you nowhere), and learn how to manipulate THEIR sensibilities and tug on THEIR heart strings. Take acting lessons if you have to, because you’re going to have to clothe yourself in sheep’s clothing while masking the disposition and determination of a wolf. Better yet, become strong enough to be a lion, afraid of no-one, impervious to the slings and arrows that will come at you from a hundred directions. Be prepared to see friends turn into enemies, family members shun you.

Join with others of like mind. There are closet conservatives and traditionalists everywhere…you just have to seek them out. Avoid the temptation to participate in rant sessions. Although the therapeutic value and catharsis of being able to speak freely, condemning with gusto what you know to be Leftist drivel, is great, it doesn’t get us anywhere.

Rather, by word and example cling to, espouse, demonstrate and exude traditional values and principles. Tell the truth. Mind your manners. Speak softly but carry a big stick (something like the guy called Negan had in The Walking Dead) in case you need it. Dress not to impress or to draw attention to yourself (that’s what the Left in its desperation for attention does) but in such a way as to say, “I’m not a fashion hound, I don’t care what the latest and greatest label is”. I also urge you to flee from the slavery of tech…pull out your handheld device only when absolutely necessary, and insist that your kids put a governor on their use as well.

Finally, I urge you to pray to whichever God you know for guidance, wisdom, strength and the ability to fight.

One step at a time…it’s a long way back up the slippery slope.

Truth Matters

Reason, Society & Culture

In 2016 the Oxford English Dictionary’s “Word of the Year” was post-truth, suggesting that truth is dead, and objective facts no longer have any meaning. Really? Have we become so poisoned with relativism that standards no longer exist and the individual is the sole arbiter of right and wrong, fact and fiction, truth or lies and, by way of conclusion, “anything goes?”

“What is truth?” is one of the central questions of philosophy. Is Corey Booker correct to suggest that we must all live “our truth”? Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Corey Booker can debate the answer. Here’s one truth, however, that should but probably won’t be universally accepted. It is that there is a difference between truth and belief.

What is or should be of great concern is how falsehood, what a business school course once called “creative misrepresentation” and fiction are used to persuade or judge everyday matters. And of paramount concern is how lies have been weaponized so as to cause belief to be to pushed and accepted as truth. By way of example, that the Benghazi disaster was the result of an anti-muslim video was proclaimed so loudly and assertively, it brainwashed many.

It’s also true that not everything is black or white. Grey is the predominant color in debate. But has the questioning of norms and rules gone so far overboard that it attacks the very idea of having any rules at all as Victor Davis Hanson suggested in his 2014 essay “The Poison of Postmodern Lying“? As he so starkly points out, “Without notions of objective truth, there can never be lies, just competing narratives and discourses. Stories that supposedly serve the noble majority are true; those that supposedly don’t become lies — the facts are irrelevant.”

So it seems nowadays that truth is in the hands of he or she who has the bigger megaphone, or who can more cleverly devise a phrase or seven second soundbite that tugs at a heartstring or “sounds right.”

The antidote?

Critical Thinking…something that is sorely lacking in our population today. Or, how about, at least, healthy skepticism?

Not all news is fake news, but a lot of it consists of selective truth, or facts taken out of context. Not all advertising is nonsense, though healthy skepticism should cause us to consider whether ground-up peach pits will cure cancer, or whether an actress’s proclamation that vaccinations cause autism should be accepted as truth.

If you hear a talking head say, “Let me be clear,” or “Make no mistake”, or “The truth of the matter is”, or, my favorite…”It goes without saying,” immediately turn on your skeptic’s filter.

Separating fact from fiction, truth from lies, involves work. It is the work of seeking out, validating and judging evidence. In an era of information overload, (I like the analogy of trying to take a drink from a firehose), sounding plausible or looking, in the case of websites or television, as if it’s plausible does not mean it’s true. We used to say, “Don’t believe everything your read.” Now we have to add “hear” and “see” to the list. Today you can’t even believe your own eyes thanks to the wonders of PhotoShop.

Besides applying the principle of critical thinking we can resolve to tell the truth ourselves, teach our children and grandchildren the difference between truth and a lie (remember George Washington and the cherry tree?) and remind ourselves not to be swayed by the herd, by popular opinion, by peer pressure and by what tugs at the heart while bypassing our brains.

The truth matters.

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