OPED: Politicians Lie. We get it, but…damn!
Can we catch our breath before you start another?
It had been suggested to me this morning that government and its agents all lie, regardless of party or affiliation. It was presented as if I wasn’t aware of this fact. So, I shared my perspective on lying and government.
It happens every day.
We’re gonna assume you’re new in these here parts and remind you that we are aware that politicians have been known to lie, on both sides. Yes, we are aware of this.
However, it has often been seen, particularly of late, one party (Republican) which has lied directly to my face, in complete opposition to the easiest-to-accept facts such that, even when recordings or video of the offender is played, they feign ignorance of there being any possibility of a lie.
See: Sarah Huckabee Sanders — “serial congenital liar”
Their complete denial of the fact, their feigned outrage at the idea they would NEED to lie to us, their fabrication of lies or denunciation of the media bold enough to point it out, is such that, their lies have become normalized, accepted, even expected.
With the normalization of “alternative facts” we have basically been conditioned to accept lies and not expect the truth.
This means I find the conservative party lying to me, more often than not, and now, with the help of their well-funded plutocrat’s puppet-mastery, (Koch brothers, cough)…excuse me, where were we? Oh yes, we find them buying up more media space for them to “spin” the truth, further confusing a populace too stressed out, economically challenged, and just plain old worn-out to even pay these daily affronts on our dignity any attention at all.
Better to not watch the news or read the paper. Better it happen offscreen in my life. I’m going to be fucked anyway. Take away my 401k, abolish my health policies, triple my medical costs, increase the cost of my son’s tuition or make his payment of those loans interest rates double his taxable income. There is always some such fuckery just around the corner lately. Tax reform, my ass.
As if the election of Donald Trump was a license to open the national cookie jar and just start flinging them around the room to whatever megacorporation can write a revision to a law or policy allowing them their turn at the feasting bowl. They don’t even wash their hands anymore. They used to make an effort of pretending they weren’t going to do something rude like repealing FCC regulation and standing by to activate new payment plans as soon as the ink on the signature dries.
See Comcast’s consideration of internet ‘fast lanes’ —
We know it happens on both sides. We just don’t expect to be lied to in every interaction, no matter how small. We don’t expect the nation to be built upon a firmament of lies, where no truth is possible or thought necessary for the people to have. We recognize lying in media. But when it becomes impossible for the truth to be told by anyone, the government falls into the hands of whichever liars were the best.
And since they’re used to lying, and you’re used to accepting it, and the media’s used to promoting it…
Why don’t we skip the middlemen and get straight to order of today’s cultural, social or economic fuckery of the day. No chaser.
#lying #DonaldTrump #TrumpAdministration #FOXNews
This article first appeared in Cognitive Dissident.
Thaddeus Howze is the Answer-Man. He is also a writer, essayist, author and professional storyteller for mysterious beings who exist in non-Euclidean realms beyond our understanding.
