by C. O. Jones
Presidential hopefuls eschew a stream of lies, falsely depicting our national reality — a reality readily observed by all — without the slightest reserve. Incredibly, these politicians — even with our national cynicism over “lying politicians” — proceed without fear of reprisal or relegation to complete irrelevancy.
In fact, our most noted proponent of this tool has taken it to the extreme, along with a cascade of insults, any one of which in election years past would have sent his candidacy to the dustbin; and he’s ridden it to the top of polls.
To those on the outside, the most perplexing quality of this phenomenon is our presumption that our fellow citizens are aware that these “truths” are false. We even have a word to describe it: “truthiness!” Truthiness, although a "stunt word", was named Word of the Year for 2005 by the American Dialect Society and for 2006 by Merriam-Webster.[7][8] The concept is endorsed, if not mocked, by our culture!
Still, in a culture where we nominally consider ourselves to be intelligent and “the greatest nation in the history of mankind,” how can that be?”
Most of our believers (on the right) who accommodate this phenomenon are Christian. Is this a co-incidence? We think not. It would appear that there’s a strong connection.
Picture a young person — 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 — growing up in a good, Christian home, especially in the fifties, even the sixties. Not only does he learn that Jesus loves him, but he learns to love Jesus. Who’s Jesus? From the time that he can understand the concept, he learns from his parents, church, school, media, relatives — maybe even friends — that being a “Good Christian” as an act of faith makes him or anyone a good person…. popular, respected. Beyond good, it delivers eternal happiness. The authority here, a “text” for this faith, is a tome that all but the most ardent acknowledge is filled with myth, contradiction, wild tales, parable and metaphor. Still, as the brain develops, lessons are learned and stored in our amygdala. These early lessons are extremely powerful.
Note that “faith” here means believing something implausible and unprovable. But it’s presented as a very good attribute. Sometime, oh maybe in our teens — long after Santa Claus and the tooth fairy fade into fancy, we may be exposed to doubt. But doubt comes with pejorative labels: Heathen, Infidel, Apostate. For an impressionable teen, preoccupied by the exigencies of chasing popularity, who needs this?
We can find joy and safety riding the cultural wave. We live in a Christian nation. All one has to do is believe what others want him to believe. He wants to believe. He’s a good person.
And here it is, my friends: From our youngest and most impressionable moments, our culture has taught us and stroked us — for believing what we want to believe. But what could be more personal than the essence of who we are? Against logic — in absence of evidence, we accept a fanciful notion of WHO I AM.
Wait a minute! Am I not the final authority on who I am? When we were MOST impressionable and vulnerable, our parents didn't tell us: “Here’s a popular explanation of where we come from and why we’re here. There are many other theories about this to explore as you grow up.” Instead, we were force-fed religion — as truth.
How much of a stretch is it, then, to accept as truth what we hear about other abstractions, that we realize we know practically nothing about. Politics! It’s a lot safer to accept the wisdom of those who study these matters. And their wisdom “feels good” coming in — all the better! The information, you see, comes with a continual stream of warnings — threats to our safety and to our world; but their society of saviors will protect me and my family, if I support them.
Most of all, these people know my pain! They understand how I am victimized by cruel circumstances. They realize that my problems are NOT because of the bad choices that I’ve made my whole life. OTHER PEOPLE have stolen my prerogatives. It’s convenient that these thieves don’t look or talk like me — oh, and they never seem to have political power. But this message feels g o o o d. I know the feeling, and I’ve had a lifetime of conditioning to accept this as truth.
So the next time you are stunned to find that people believe nicotine is not addictive, that lead is not poison, that burning petroleum is not making climate change, that YOU are threatened by Islamic terrorists, that our economy has not recovered, that President Obama has destroyed the prosperous country that President George W. Bush left us, realize that they — maybe even YOU — also believe the orthodoxy of some religion. We have been taught to accept as truth that which we want to believe.
On the near horizon lies change. Our children of the digital age — children of the internet — have a different reality. We will soon witness how this generation, over-exposed, under educated, berated by its elders, jaded by and unprotected from the harsh world they inhabit — takes to the concept of “truthiness.” By and large, this generation hasn’t bought into, as we did, the “very unlikely.” We are on the cusp of Future Shock. Stay tuned.
C. O. Jones is a Robbinsense staff writer
