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April 28, 2003
The Telling of Lies
When I was just a little seedling my mother put some cookies out to cool. They smelled and looked delicious. Being hungry, I grabbed a handful and went outside to eat them. Later that day, my mother asked if I knew what happened to the missing cookies. I lied, “No Mother, I don’t know what happened to the cookies.” And I opened a door. I joined the conspiracy. The conspiracy of liars.
We liars mainly lie to protect ourselves, to cover our asses or to gain advantage. We lie to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, but that is partly because we don’t want to deal with someone’s hurt feelings. But let’s let that go into that for now. We lie mostly as a protective mechanism and to gain advantage. In fact, I believe that the only thing that distinguishes human beings from all other creatures is our ability to tell stories, lies if you will, and most importantly, to believe them, as if they were true.
We believe the lies we are told. We believe our own lies. The truth is that you and I lie and we act as if the lies are true. Politicians lie. Corporations lie. Clerics lie. Lawyers lie. Media lies. And we all accept the lies because if we don’t accept their lies then, maybe they won’t accept ours. With nation states it is much the same. “We, the People,” didn’t mean we, all of us. It didn’t mean the people. It meant men and only men. No women allowed. It meant property owners only. No workers. No slaves. No indentured servants. And it meant only white men. No blacks. No native Americans. White Men. But our Founding Fathers were a little uncomfortable with “We, the White, Anglo-Saxon, male property owners.” I heard it said that in the 1824 Presidential Election only 5% of the population voted. We, the People, my ass.
When the U.S.A. moved westward we “settled” the country , from the Louisiana Purchase to all the other “expansions.” History books tell us the Civil War was about state’s rights. Those who died in the Alamo were freedom fighters. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, arrgh. And now, “It’s not about the oil.” Lies, lies, lies. Our nation is not built on a Constitution. It’s built upon lies. It is only when we break through the communal lies that we can more closely examine our own.
If, we, the people, really want to live in a free, democratic society, we must first let go of the myths and stories that our country was founded on. And then ask ourselves, “What does it mean to be free"” What does a democracy that benefits everyone look like" How do we include everyone in the equation" And most importantly, what are the obligations and responsibilities that go with being free, being democratic.
Johnny Peaceseed