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Friday, December 03, 2010

More, Please

 
Calhouns Can(n)ons for December 3, 2010

When in doubt, tell the truth.  It will confound your enemies and astound your friends.
                                                                          Mark Twain

The outrage I’m supposed to feel over the latest WikiLeaks release of purloined diplomatic cables keeps slipping into an evil chuckle.  Yes, I know the previous dump of military information likely cost some lives.  That blood is surely on the head of Julian Assange as he scuttles around from hiding place to hiding place, a wanted man-on-a-mission.  But Assange likely doesn’t care about a few dead people.  He’s a self-righteous naïf, supremely sure of the rightness of his cause and happy to accept the broken eggs needed for his righteous omelet, so long as it’s not his eggs that are broken.

But now WikiLeaks is promising another large data dump, this time exposing misdeeds by some large financial institution, and instead of a frown, I find my self growling with savage glee, “Yeah! Do it! DUMP IT ALL!”

That’s how tired I am of the lies.  All the lies.  We’re lied into war, we’re lied into national beggary, we’re lied into policies that damage us and damage our country.  The culture is awash in lies, we’re drowning in them.  Global warming doesn’t exist, Obamacare is trying to kill your Granny, tax cuts for millionaires won’t balloon the deficit, the free market will solve all problems, privatization is the answer, Wall Street doesn’t need any regulating, all taxes should be paid by The Other Guy, credit is always free, and all our problems will be solved if we just go shopping.

And instead of watchdogs in the press, we have corporate lapdogs or, in the case of Fox News, a media giant that’s little more than a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican party that acts as a political spin machine disguised as “news.”  Instead of Mr. Smith going to Washington, we have a culture of corporate politicians, venal hacks revolving from Congress to K-Street and back again.  We have become a nation that has lost all sense of shame: lie and cheat and steal and instead of a paper bag over the head, our felons go on “Dancing With The Stars” and become media darlings.  We have bred a generation of indifferent DAs and regulators who know all about the frauds and lies and respond with a “Chinatown” shrug, then turn away: not their problem. And a populace more interested in what Paris Hilton’s doing than paying attention to who’s picking their pockets.

So, Enough!  In the let-it-all-hang-out Facebook Age, what we need are more WikiLeaks, a new whistle blowing ethos, and a battle cry throughout the land:  Dump it!  Dump it all!   I want America crawling with outraged idealistic naifs with pockets-full of memory sticks.  Is your employer conspiring to make and sell products that will make your children sick?  Get and dump his emails! Is your company polluting your drinking water with chemical waste in order to increase the company’s bottom line?  Dump it! Shoddy coal-mining practices?  Back-room cozy deals with city planners and developers? Wall Street gamblers gaming the system with your retirement money? Hypocritical Pols publicly grandstanding  in the Culture Wars while privately foot-tapping in airport bathrooms? Dump it! Dump it all!

While it caused a furor, dumping diplomatic cables is small potatoes.  I mean, is there anyone over the age of 12 who does not know that all national leaders often have very poor opinions of their counterparts?  Or that catty “mean girl” private chat is the lingua franca of diplomatic cables? Or that nations regularly plot and plan against one another while publicly putting on a smiley face? Who doesn’t already know that?

But who knows what shoddy drilling project BP’s cooking up that will end up destroying your livelihood?  Or what plans are underway in the boardrooms of Big Pharma to deliberately, knowingly start selling dangerous pills that will kill your child?  Or what secret emails are being exchanged among government regulators indicating that they’re going to turn a blind eye to safety laws so when your husband goes down into that mine, he’ll never come back? Or what Congressional back-room deals are now being cut that will financially ruin you?

So, I say, Dump it.  Dump it all! If sunshine is a disinfectant, then it’s way past time to open all the windows, turn on the lights, and hope that will finally awaken Clueless Nation. 


5 comments:

Sandra Gore said...

First let me say I find it unbelievably ironic that the chief "outer" and Champion of our Global and Cosmic Truth, Julian Assange, is wanted for rape in Sweden. Guess the recipient of his unwanted attention did a little "outing" of her own.

Second, just to remind us that nothing is new -
"It is the merit of a general to impart good news and to conceal the truth." Sophocles (ca 450Bc)

Churadogs said...

Yeah, irony. But, have to wonder if the charges of some sort of unwanted sexual contact or whatever it is isn't just the "hook" needed to get this guy into custody, after which, who knows what will happen: he'll be "disappeared" to death? I guess his website(s) are zooming all over the place followed by close efforts to shut them down; a sort of internet Wack-a-Mole/Willy Coyote/Roadrunner chase and bang.

I'm still holding out for Mark Twain over Sophocles, though I'm sure you're right. Lies trump truth, every time.

Anonymous said...

Ann: If you believe the works of Saul Alinski, and you do, lies do trump truth. However, 1 + 1 = 2. It is the smart folks who can see truth. They understand that belief is not truth, and that perception is not truth.

Truth exists. It can be discovered.

Churadogs said...

Actually, perception can quickly become reality, an often very deadly reality. In the land of quantum physics, 1+1 are often not 2, they simply APPEAR to be 2.What you and I call "truth" is more often than not, merely an agreed upon construct that can change in an instant when more information comes in the door.

Oh, and don't forget the problem of making (often wrong) assumptions about what other people do or do not believe.

Anonymous said...

You are absolutely correct about quantum physics, however most of these constructs lie in theory. I would suggest you read Neil deGrasse Tyson's book "Death By Black Hole", a really great read, with a lot of dry humor.

While deGrasse is my favorite astrophysicist, he does a good job on explaining quantum physics. There is a lot we have to learn.

In the meantime 1 + 1 = 2. There would be no mathematical derivatives or theory in quantum physics if this was not true.

As far as what other people believe, I have found out that people can see whatever, hear whatever, feel whatever, touch whatever, and emotionally feel whatever without any of this having a basis in or of reality. This is the essence of the human situation, the willingness to accept beliefs as truth when there is no basis in reality. "What is really real?" has been argued since mankind started to think. The answer is only partially found through the study of history.