And I have to say I’m death on outright lies being told to me, personally, and then being expected to help and support that person despite the lies. Yeah, yeah, there’s the political process that has been inculcated into each one of the American would-be serf cognoscenti, again and again and again.
Things about coalition building. Tactics such as “vote for me on this bill and I’ll let you vote no on that bill, so as to look better to your constituents.” Things about so-called political pragmatism which is as opposite to the actual pragmatism of running a country for the benefit of its people.
People on liberal blogs will tell you that the Republicans are 100 times worse, and so the natural thing to do is to work for and vote for Democrats to keep the Republicans from getting office.
And, if you subscribe to that theory, yeah, there’s some truth in it. There are many names for this reasoning — it’s called “extortionist reasoning” with much truth by some, but from people who employ it sincerely I’m going to call it the “keep the boogeyman at bay” argument.
You see, there’s a dangerous boogeyman outside your door. What he wants to do is take all your belongings, rape your spouse, sell your children into indentured servitude and burn your livestock — what you are a serf and you don’t have livestock? Ok, your pets then.
I’ll circle back to that.
In America of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, we’ve been steeped in a culture of lies. Much of it comes with a wink and a nod, and through an initial culture of consumption. And despite the fact that people bemoan that Americans are clueless, unschooled and unsophisticated in some ways, for example not being able to find Afghanistan on a map, we have become very sophisticated (I might prefer the term “jaded”) in some ways.
When we see advertisements on TV, or on the radio or in print media, we’re totally used to being lied to with wild abandon. We know that the products and services we’re being sold come with a passel of lies. We know that vacuum cleaner just will not work flawlessly for years and as a side effect clean the air we breathe. If we are sophisticated, we know that the paid programming with the latest get rich quick scheme is a total con job.
So, we’re expected to be sophisticated about it, and if we’re not sophisticated, we’re gullible dupes. Because of this expectation of sophistication, no one else has to take any responsibility for their lies, on the expectation that those who were sold a bill of goods should have known better. That TV station that aired the total con job with the criminal liar isn’t responsible for any lies the criminal liar tells — heck they even SAID they weren’t responsible!
By David Swanson
