"The Truth Shall Make You Mad" - apologies to the famous person who said that , and whose name I don't remember right now. I don't mind being mad. Angry. Tee'd off to the ultra-maxoid. I've got a lot of experience being in that emotional state - I don't mind it.
Life , as I think you have mentioned noticing , presents us with a number of problems as we try to get through it with as little pain and simultaneously with as much grace as we can manage. Problems - what to do with them? In all those confusing /boring/ irritating math classes we endured , hey , problems were to be solved. In the graduate study world of Alleged Real Life , problems remain to be solved.
Other alternatives to , yep , solving problems , are ineffective and unwise. We can retreat into alcoholism , sit ourselves on the bench with mental illness , ignore the Wolf At The Door Problem by fussing around with the troubles about what color gladiolus to plant by the other door this year - and we get the same result. The wolf , or other problem eats us up. Leaving - solve the problem. The first thing we need in order to solve the problem is information.
Information to solve problems by - it's gotta be the truth , or it won't help us solve the problem. If we go out there "armed " with false info , whether it is via lies , half-truths , or the calculations of the insufferably stupid , we can't solve our problem - but we can make some additional ones. We can amass a number or severity of problems that eat us up , putting us back where we would have been had we decided to get loaded and ignore the lack-of stuff-being-OK that we have named - " a problem".
If we progress along the way far enough to decide that the problem falls into the domain of solution finders such as doctors , lawyers , engineers , mechanics - we have made a great deal of progress indeed. We have also reached another crossroads , like we did at the point where we decided to solve that mess rather than find a self-destructive way to ignore it. And we take the problem to the solution person .
Now , having sought problem -solving expertise , what do we do? We tell the expert what we think the deal is. What do they need to help us out here? Why , information, of course.
and it must be the TRUTH. If we lie to the fixit -folks , whether
it is our doc , our lawyer , our engineer , our mechanic - or Congress , or the military professionals , or the American public , or our allies , or the United Nations - we have deprived them of the opportunity to help us get the problem solved.
Isn't that a stupid thing to do? Why , it's like just getting drunk , entertaining delusional thoughts in our heads so well they get comfortable and start spreading out sleeping bags to stay , or playing around with other "problems " , like should sissies be allowed to get married , while the wolf tears away at our door with the glistening fangs of his ravening jaws.
The truth really won't set you free - but it is necessary for us all to have it , to use it , and to KEEP THE TRUTH FREE
so that it remains a useful tool for solving problems. If we hide the truth , spin it out of shape , bend it backwards - do anything but keep it available , visible , and untarnished , it is like a screwdriver or wrench left in the weather to rust away for five years or so. It can no longer be used to solve a problem.
Click here: Daily Kos: Wait! Wait! Don't Lie to Me!!!
Wait! Wait! Don't Lie to Me!!!
by serrano
Fri Mar 24, 2006 at 07:17:14 AM PDT
Y'know, Al Franken's been on to something significant for quite a while now. While the Amurkan peepul expect spin, maybe a little misleading here and there, and prefer to have their predispositions reinforced most of the time, they really don't like to be LIED to.
I think that's one of the reasons Bush spinners have leapt to slap down anyone that would dare use that word in their direction. In 2002 and 2004, it's not so much that everybody bought everything they said, but they were giving this bunch the benefit of the doubt. They WANTED to believe them, they WANTED to trust that they would protect us.
serrano's diary :: ::
They exhibited a high degree of trust and confidence in this President and his regime. Because of that, they swallowed a lot of crap. All of a sudden, that crap isn't tasting so sweet.
I noticed a turning point, or what I think is a significant indicator of one this morning. Chris Matthews, aka Tweety, who was never that big on the War but just loved Bush and his swagger and the whole deal, is now PISSED! Not dissatisfied, but PISSED! Like a lot of people, he didn't want to believe that Bush and Cheney had willfully lied to us to take us into this wretched War. Then he watched the video piece artfully put together by David Shuster, which began w/Bush's Alfred E. Newman moment at his press conference this week--"Who-ME-mislead people about the connection between Iraq and 9/11???" KO on Countdown also did a terrific job at juxtaposing the current denials and dismissals with THEIR ACTUAL WORDS!!! As Keith mused, "Don't they know we have videotape??!!"
Bush confessed that he was careful not to say Iraq was behind 9/11. But it's now clear their artful conflation of the two, over and over and over, was too cute by half.
Now that the Amurkan peepul have pulled the curtain on the Wizard, and seen him to be a lying imp if not chimp, they, too, are PISSED! AS GW himself has so eloquently intoned, "Fool me once..." Of all the polls and all the questions lately, I believe the most telling and significant is that the vast majority of Americans no longer consider him HONEST or TRUSTWORTHY!!!!
That's not something you get back overnight, if ever, folks!! It's like the moment you know for a FACT that your spouse has cheated on you--you never forget it, and you never again trust them fully.
The only people who trust Bush any more are the ones who get their news only from Rush, Sean, and O'Lielly, and, like Cheney, keep their tubes tuned only to Fox News. Perhaps that bunch can't be helped. But if they ever realize how much and how often they've been lied to......
Props to Al Franken. I've criticized him on occasion, but he's really struck a useful nerve here. Remember how Bully Bill went ballistic when Al called him a liar??!!
We've got a great deal yet to do, that's for sure. The most immediate is to break their lyin' frame on domestic spying, and that's on deck for Tuesday. Also, as Kos pointed out yesterday, in spite of everything, Dem turnout in Tx-28 and Il-08 have been surprisingly low. Maybe because it's just the primary, but it's clear we can't take anything for granted.
But I truly believe that there is now a great number of Americans in the middle, who gave Bush leeway as Commander-in-Chief, who bought into the patriotism and country music, who now see our country in horrendous debt that effects their lives, and they see the thousands of families destroyed by death and dismemberment, and they ask why. Now that they've caught on to the lies, they know where they CAN'T look for answers. It's up to us to demonstrate an alternative.
Al, Randi, Ed may be strident, but they work hard to be meticulous in the facts that support their assertions, much as Kossacks demand evidence. I think that will give us a strong foundation.
I once wrote a diary here entitled, "It's the Katrina, Stupid!", and I still believe a)that Katrina has been an unspeakable and unforgiveable tragedy; and b)that it embodied their unwillingness and/or incompetence to utilize government to help poor or average people, even as they use government shovels to feed Halliburton and their ilk.
But even w/Katrina, one of the most vexing aspects was their now-reflexive lying. A big reason for their all-encompassing SECRECY is so they can't get busted on their lies. Ever notice how, when a charge is made, they demand evidence, knowing all the while they've got it locked in an undisclosed location??
Ever notice how much they HATE FOIA? How they continue to believe they'll get away w/Plamegate and Domestic Spying because the evidence against them is SECRET??!!
Well, folks, the Dubai Deal demonstrated the shitstorm that can ensue when the truth sees the light of day.
Truthiness, truthtellers, lying liars--now Tweety and millions of Amurkans can see the light---It's the LIES, Stupid!!!!
That's the fundamental difference between us and them--they believe the truth is their mortal enemy, and we believe the truth will set us free!!! Go, Kossacks, let's not let them get away w/the BIG LIE which is the domestic spying scandal!!!! Gracias!
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/24/91714/6324
And thank you to the REAL media, DailyKos.
"There is nothing worse than gangrene of the soul."Mike Malloy ~ 1/20/05
HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS!HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS!!HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS!!!
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