As I was walking to the bus this morning with my wife, a line from a William S. Burroughs poem kept ringing in my ears.
“To vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through”
I thought, how appropriate to our times. As the lies from this administration pile up like bodies at Gallipoli, it is no longer possible to deny that there are lies being spoken, even if you are a “true believer.” When the President contradicts himself with great surety and conviction within the same conversation with “facts” that are mutually exclusive, there can be no other rational conclusion other than at least one of the statements is a lie. And so one must, even if they are a supporter, try to discern which is the lie and which is true by examining such evidence as might exist. Which means that they must engage in the search for facts. I actually find this a positive development, for once someone sets out to find evidence, they have begun the path towards fact-based decision making, rather than simply clinging to “the revealed truth.” So maybe there is a ray of hope. Perhaps Trump has pushed the bounds of credibility to such an extreme that not even cognitive dissonance can contain the lies and we will see truth return as something to be valued. Perhaps we might even see the return of reason.
I hope so.
For the poem from which the line above was taken ends like this:
“Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal
Of the last and greatest of human dreams.”
(Thanksgiving Day, Nov 28,1986, from “Tornado Alley,” published 1989)
Peace.