What is going on this world? Is anyone monitoring the culture of officially-sanctioned lies that has taken firm root everywhere? Why are we allowing the mainstream media and our leaders to concoct and feed us self-serving lies rather than respecting us enough to reveal the truth however inconvenient it might be?

Lying for those in authority has become as natural as inhaling and exhaling.

I believe that one of the biggest tragedies of recent decades has been the death of truth and the rise of that imposter called perception. Everything seems to be about “perception” and “fabricated or relative truth (lies) within the context of a situation”.
I define a deliberate liar is someone who knows that he or she is telling an untruth but deceives for selfish purposes.
A pathological liar is someone who habitually deceives others and often believes his or her own lies. The pathological liar often lies for no real reason except to keep in practice.
Reminds us of our glib, chameleon presidents and those Islamic mullahs who promise paradise and nubile young virgins to demented suicide bombers.
My grouse is not with ordinary people who might tell a fib occasionally to protect somebody’s feelings or to lessen the awkwardness of a social interaction. My problem is with the deliberate and pathological liars who occupy positions of leadership. The ones who exert influence at the highest level within the executive, judiciary, military and business circles.

What kind of fools do they think we are?

Very gullible ones it seems.

I know that it is usually difficult for the public to identify many of the lies being thrown at us because we are a trusting people by nature. These lies are well-manicured and well-disguised within the flatulent rhetoric or politically correct hash of the public relations practitioners.
First, there is the hard core lie, which is totally woven from the imagination. This one completely disregards the truth.
Then there is the more popular convoluted version with a tiny, dried up seed of truth at the middle of a big, fat juicy lie.
The latter was spawned in response to calls “for transparency” from the underground media and alert public.
The convoluted lie lends itself to malleability and it works like this: a piece of information is dissected, shaved of all key elements, enhanced with some subtle, self-serving fabrications and then presented to the public via a “media leak,” press release or a press conference. Within minutes it becomes breaking news across the globe and in some perverted way it crawls into the realm of credibility where it nestles comfortably with millions of other officially sanctioned half lies and quarter truths.

Almost everyday with clockwork precision, our intelligence is insulted with a hard core or convoluted lie from some high office in the land.

According to these lies, fast food is actually food; Mahmoud Ahamadinejad’s imaginary playmate, the Mahdi, constitutes a threat to world peace; God, the Creator, cannot arrange Armageddon himself so he needs Christian fundamentalists to act as his agents and warmongers on earth. Let us not forget that oil prices will fall to $30 again and, intelligent people are actually interested in the idiot culture that spawned entertainment news about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
Oh, I almost forgot the most ludicrous lie of all. Are you aware that global warming is a man-generated phenomenon?
Say what?

But seriously now, I believe that the most disturbing element of the situation is how lying is mutating into lucrative and legitimate businesses which range from corporate communications to reality television. These perpetrators of deception lurk in the corridors of power, rubbing shoulders with the who’s whom in government and business circles while they collect five and six figure salaries for spinning lies.

As I delve into the dynamics of deception I am dumbfounded at the assumptions made by these folks who peddle lies for a living. Behind the scenes of secret meetings, John Public is stereotyped as being “not too bright” and generally projected as not being able to understand words of more than three syllables. The governing principle underlying official deception is that it is generally “not in the public’s interest to reveal the truth about anything, so let us hide the facts and deny the truth until the matter blows over.”

Within recent years, governments in power have learned to use the tricks of “image enhancement” and advertising. Now you and I, as taxpayers are paying the government to lie to us. What a smooth operation.

I am afraid that officially-sanctioned lying is now permeating every institution of society. This disease is eating away at our collective integrity like a malignant cancer. And we wonder why our children like the poet’s Mathilda, are given to telling lies? I believe that this culture of deception reflects moral bankruptcy at a global level and sets a dangerous precedent for generations to come.

Some believe that a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth. I believe the culture of lying is becoming dangerously entrenched because we prefer to be deceived with palatable lies rather than to stagger under the weight of an unpleasant truth. Maybe we find it easier to live in denial rather than to work a little harder to demand respect and truth from those in authority and leadership positions.

Categories: