It seems to me that lying and falsity are layered into our lives today at such a level that it is becoming less important, less of a vice, and maybe even perfectly acceptable. There has been a lot of talk about how the Bush administration continues to lie to the American public, yet we can see no one in the administration held accountable for these lies. And he is lying about some of the most serious matters in the world today. Lying (and its siblings, cheating, misleading, denial, obfuscation) that has come from our Executive is at the core of our disapproval and anger. Not getting accountability or at a minimum some acknowledgement of responsibility forced on them through the oversight of the Congress is at the core of our significant disappointment with that "co-equal" branch of government. Below I will list several layers of lies that I think may show why we acquiesce.
We were beat up and amazed at the obfuscation and outright lying of Alberto Gonzalez under oath in front of Congress. We know that Alberto’s memory loss was a lie yet the Senate easily replaced him with a man who would not answer a simple but critical question. Mukasy would not say that waterboarding was unconstitutional. Our outrage should have taught us a lesson and required us to seek out honesty and integrity in the next AG, but it was absent. Maybe the mendacious atmosphere gained ground with the words " It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is." But I think we all know a big lie and a small one. I was in Toronto, Canada last month when two of their fallen soldiers were returned. Their caskets were all over the news as was their highway honor guard. The contrast was remarkable. Our censorship policy is a lie. The pentagon says they do it to protect the "privacy and dignity" of the families.
We certainly would not tolerate lies that result in the needless loss of life. Yet consider the impact that President Thabo Mbeki’s denial of the overwhelming evidence on HIV and AIDs. The loss of life that could have been avoided is staggering. And to this day, Mr. Bush’s efforts to roll back AIDs in Africa still denies funding for condoms. You would think that George Bush and Exxon Mobil would have learned something about the cost of denying overwhelming scientific evidence, in this case global warming. Exxon Mobil’s complicity in a disinformation campaign is undisputed (and this wonderful site literally lets you connect the dots.) This self-interested dishonesty went on so long and was so effective that some theorize that any efforts now, may be too late to substantially roll back the negative affects of carbon emissions.
But lets make lying a little more personal shall we? Our kids lie a lot, the "good" kids too, and we seem to be accepting this.
According to the 1998 poll of Who's Who Among American High School Students, 80% of the country's best students cheated to get to the top of their class. More than half the students surveyed said they don't think cheating is a big deal – and most did not get caught.
While about 20% of college students admitted to cheating in high school during the 1940's, today between 75 and 98 percent of college students surveyed each year report having cheated in high school.
We women are handed lies every time we shop. Consider what size the pants you are wearing right now as you sit here reading my diary. You know that this size is a lie. But what can you do? You aren’t lying, the company is. Tell me in all honesty, does it not feel good that you wear a size 6 when you know that 15 years ago that would have been a size 10? And reach for that bottle of water. So many people are in their house where there is a glass and a tap available, but they reach for that lying little bottleanyway.
Now lets get even more personal. Men and women have always lied about sex. (You all know what I mean.) But in 1933 when Mae West asked "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" she had a pretty good notion that if it were not a gun, he probably was very happy to see her. Is that true anymore now that we have such pervasive, recreational use of Viagra among healthy, young men? Along the same lines, the inherent deception of breast augmentation doesn’t seem to bother anyone. A new mom can be made as if she never gave birth. Plastic surgery has surged by 446% in 10 years in this country. I think as a measurement (no pun intended) surely this is evidence that we don’t see this as at all dishonest or false. We girls knew Barbie's figure was unrealistic, but not anymore, its expected. Grandmothers (and now Grandfather’s ) don’t have wrinkles and we are to pretend that this is just good nutrition and health.
Moving into another area of our everyday deceptions; Atlanta is the only major city that I know of where you actually have to speed up faster than the rural highway speed to stay safe. But the law and the signs say 55mph. A wonderful, if not dangerous case of law abiding is filmed here. Another sad Atlanta tale; Barry Bonds broke Hank Aarron’s home run record this year. But did he really? Now some people in sports have paid the price for this pervasive kind of cheating such as Marion Jones who was stripped of her records and titles in Olympic track and field events. I guess our crack down on this cheating is coming along, but why then are there young atheletes doping for regular high school sports?
The number of high school students who admitted taking steroids has almost doubled in five years: 6.1 percent in 2003 up from 3.1 percent in 1998, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Are mommy, daddy and the coach truly ignorant of this? (I find that unbelievable:) We no longer expect live performances to be live. Saturday Nite Live is not. Lipsyncing is routine and expected on stage. When did that become ok? Sometime after 1989, believe me, I am telling you the truth.
Well I’ve talked about lying in politics, sex, sports and everyday life. What am I missing? (I have given a pass to the Media.) Hey I don’t intend to knock down every taboo here, but passing up comment on religion would make this analysis completely incomplete. There are myriads of obvious hypocrasies and untruths to be listed here. Take 15 seconds for yourself to see how they have touched you personally. (Tick tock, tick tock.........)Back? I will only point out one generalized observation. The vast majority of the world’s population practices a religion. The vast majority of this majority comprise the three Abrahamic faiths. From what I understand of each, the true way to be in the sight of God or realize salvation is only through belief in and adherance to one’s own scripture. Therefore, each of the faiths believes that the faithful of the others is not following the "true" scripture. Tolerance is one thing, but to believe that a huge bulk of the world worships a pack of lies, well you see where I am going with that.
I posit here that lying is part of our fabric and the acceptance of dishonesty is making us numb. It is making us cynical and blasé. I was going to put a poll in here to see what you all lie about, but I figured you’d just lie to me. There are some lies that are getting beaten down or at least we keep trying (racism, homophobia, sexism etc.) But to truly stand for TRUTH, JUSTICE and THE AMERICAN WAY is getting to be a joke. I leave you with my favorite and rockin summar of George Bush’s lies (the early years.) Now enjoy 5 minutes of my Superman and I hope it makes you mad.
Update: I changed my title From TRUTH JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY don't matter to us.