Lies: The Universal Truth

It is so easy to turn a lie into a truth.

If we keep repeating a lie over and over again; eventually it will become true (since we begin to believe in that same lie). We cease knowing which one is which and then…we witness the birth of a whole new truth.

Consensual truth is a fine example of it.

A group of religious people (of any denomination) convenes and discusses several issues. Each party (or individual) offers its opinion, its own interpretation of sacred texts; its own version of the facts and then negotiations commence. After much deliberation, a consensus is reached and the intellectual fruit of their agreement (not necessarily true) is now considered a Truth.

And all members of the congregation are to learn and repeat it as if it were the absolute truth.

Governments gather and decide when the people should spend or save (i.e. they go to the television and repeat n times the same sentence “We are now in a recession!” [People start saving]; “We are now in recovery!” [People start spending]). They even decide when people should globally be concerned with environmental issues or not (ex: intelligence services had satellite images proving that the Arctic had been melting for years, but only now [now that nations want to develop green energies] they reveal these pictures…). Global warming was a “lie” before but now it is surely a universal truth.

Governmental lies can become universal truths, in such a fashion that wrong wars may end up being fought.

Marketing is the biggest lie-turned-into-truth industry in the world.

It decides when people need futile consumption goods that they don’t really need, and then fabricate lies in order to lead consumers to buy superfluous good (the latter, hypnotized by the machine of lies keeps repeating “It’s true; I do need it…I have to buy it!”).

The biggest example of a lie turned into a universal truth is the anti-cellulite creams: Lord Marketing says that creams will fight cellulite, but forgets to mention that for it to work one has to exercise, drink lots of water, eat healthily (McDonald’s, and alike, is the closest friend of peau d’orange [1]) and keep buying anti-cellulite creams for eternity…otherwise “Welcome back, lunar craters!”…

And then we have the most endearing party whose “lies” are a universal truth (in a sense that the people in this category behave the same way all over the world): I am talking about mothers.

When before danger or crises, the first thing mothers will say is “It’s all right! Everything is going to be all right!” (they can be dying with their heads cracked open and still they’ll say this).

Kids see that it is not true; nothing is all right; they even doubt things will ever be all right (specially when moms die) but in that moment, out of love, they take that lie for an absolute truth.

The absolute Universal Truth is: everybody lies.

I’d like to thank Alexys for having suggesting this wonderful theme: you know you rock, girl!

[1] Peau d’orange: cellulite (in French).

Image: The Astronomer (detail) by Johannes Vermeer

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Is the 1st Amendment killing Americans?

America’s enemies are within borders.

2009 has been an odd year for this great country: threats to its President (simply because of his complexion); attacks against Jews (being the most notorious case the shooting at the Holocaust Museum, in Washington); terrorist plots to attack several buildings across America; and, most recently, the shooting at Fort Hood.

What do the authors of these threats, plots, attacks and shootings have in common (prior to committing their crimes)? They are all radicals (be it nationalists or fundamentalists). They all express their ideologies of hate through the verb and/or the Internet. They were/are all being observed and followed by security forces. They are all protected by the 1st amendment and thus pre-emptive measures are out of the question. Innocent people get killed.

I watched, this past weekend, the TV show AC 360º (that I had previously recorded) where an American citizen (a convert to Islam), in the middle of New York, was spitting words of fire and hate against Americans, against the President; claiming that those who do not turn to Islam should die; and that Allah commands all Muslims to terrorise infidels (as a means to fear Him). This individual (accompanied by his Jewish-Israeli-recently-converted-to-Islam friend) recruits, in front of a mosque, and incites other Muslims to violence against Americans, on American soil. Until they actually kill somebody or set a plan forward to kill people, the police can’t act for their speech is protected. They may not act but others, inspired by them, might. (N.B: these irresponsible radicals do not give a jot about the repercussions of their actions upon moderate Muslims).

Major Nidal Malik Hasan (an American citizen) used to express hatred against America (he even had a blog for this purpose). This caused him to be under surveillance for once again his logorrhoea was protected. Last Thursday he shot his fellow soldiers, his brothers in arms; causing 13 people to die and 38 to be wounded.

His cousin (in Ramallah) said that he was made fun of for being a Muslim (note: the man is a psychiatrist, for heaven’s sake...can he say “sublimation”? And if we are going to talk about humiliation and having been made fun of in the military, let’s recall what happened when the first black soldiers joined the forces...yet, none of them shot their comrades); that he wanted out of the military but wasn’t allowed (note: if the military invests in your education, you must return that investment – everybody knows this) and some other explanations based on victimisation.

There are no coincidences. This event occurred after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Israel for its unprecedented steps for peace. Major Hasan’s family seems to be Palestinian – now, whenever the Israeli-Palestinian issue is raised, do these Palestinian-descendant-American citizens feel more Palestinian or American? That is the question.

Then we have Mr. James W. von Brunn, a white supremacist, who authored an anti-Semitic web site where he vomited all his hatred – his mental diarrhoea was also protected and under surveillance.

But since he never mentioned his intentions on his site, the police never saw him coming. On the 10th of June 2009, Mr. White Supremacist walked in the Holocaust Museum and began shooting the place up hoping t exterminate some Juden but the only person he murdered was a goy (Mr. Stephen Tyrone Johns, 40), a brave security guard.

This racist trash keeps society with Patriots and Neo-Nazis. He’s well known by security forces yet they could do nothing before an innocent person got killed.

Europe loves its freedom of speech (after all it did have the inquisition, fascism and communism) nevertheless the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms foresees a limitation of that freedom “in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or the rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.”…

So, what do you think: is the 1st amendment killing Americans?

Image: Burning of the Heretics (Auto da fé) by Pedro Berruguete

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Irresponsibility Sexism and Violence

I love rap. I’ve been listening to it since I was 9 (my first rap song was “I need Love” by LL Cool J – so very cool).

There was a time when rap, in general, meant something; when it bore an important social message (injustice, segregation, human relations etc) and in a language free of filthy words (during the 70’s and 80’s).

But then came the 90’s...

Suddenly most rap equals to the F word; to killing people; to “the chronic”; to gangs; to women bashing and to defying the authorities.

The F word is horrible (I do not mean “Fornicate”, I am talking about its ghastly cousin). Is there really the need to include it in songs? I wonder if these rappers know that the usage of fowl language not only is vulgar but also denotes lack of intelligence and culture; for instead of saying F*** this and F*** that, they could enhance their message through the use of words that actually mean something (there are a lot of ways to protest without being coarse).

I bet they’d sell more CD’s if they’d obliterate this dreadful word off their repertoire; because people wouldn’t get lost in vulgarity and would actually pay attention to the message at hand.

Rap seems to romanticise gangs and incite people to violence.

Being in a gang is not the same as belonging to the Cosa Nostra; and if the latter can be awful (with all its codes of honour to protect families), now imagine what’s like to belong to a gang (where honour seems to be ignored and not intended to protect families – a gang is based on violence for violence and by violence) – it is not romantic, it is not cool.

The lyrics, in rap music, often embellish the act of smoking weed. This is irresponsible.

Smoking weed may lead to the consumption of hard drugs and abuse of other substances; which in turn will lead to depravation...

Speaking of putrefaction...let’s discuss women bashing.

One must really be doped up and drunk to bash women; to objectify a being that represents the generation of life, love, nurture, generosity, strength, resilience and power.

The Rap Industry must be all smoking crack not to realise that bashing women is the same as bashing its own mothers, sisters, wives, cousins, nieces, daughters and so forth. No money, in the world, justifies this.

Now, it is known that some women perpetuate this behavioural vulgarity and to them I say: you are a damn woman; where’s your dignity?

The police, around the world, make a lot of mistakes (it abuses its position of power); nevertheless it is a figure of authority that needs to be respected (if they mess up, there are ways to get them).

Some say that most rappers represent the stereotype of not having had a daddy around, which depleted them of the capacity to deal and respect authority – Nonsense!

Plenty of people didn’t have a father around and they chose to walk on the right path...towards a healthy and successful life.

Kids listen to rap and they like it. If they are fortunate enough to have a parent around all the time (like I did) to explain them that the contents of those songs are not a role model at all; great. But if they are not fortunate enough (like most kids today) then these children are being subjected to the Rap Industry’s irresponsibility, sexism and violence.

Image: Borrowed from Youth In Control

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An Act of God

An act of God is the miracle of creation (under its many forms).
An act of God is every expression of love, tenderness and care.
An act of God is every bond, connection and act of intimacy...

Yet there are other readings...
In law, this expression signifies events that are outside human control (ex: floods, tornadoes, volcano eruptions, earthquakes and landslides).
Should it be inferred that lawmakers (and people in general) admit that there is a God willing to provoke these tragedies of nature?
Let’s assume that yes, indeed God occasionally does these things: with what purpose?
Does He want to punish, warn us or simply hold us accountable for our nation’s actions as a people?

Punishment
If God were to use floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes and volcano eruptions as a means to punish nations, why would He punish some countries more than others? For example, why would He punish the American Samoa, and not (let’s say) some nations where women are disrespected, where human rights are constantly violated and where His name is used to justify dread, hatred and terror?
What is the Caribbean, year after year, being punished for? I wonder whether the 2000 floods in Mozambique meant that God hadn’t forgiven the implementation of communism in that nation (a regime that translated into re-education camps, torture, food rationing, oppression and misery).
What about Hurricane Katrina? An evangelical pastor claimed that God punished New Orleans (Louisiana, US) because of Gays and immorality...Hmm...

Warning
Perhaps the world is being warned of the advent of a new era – after all, so many natural disasters occurring, at the same time (for the past few years), around the world must be telling us something – but what would this advent translate into exactly?

Accountability
Imagine that the natives of some nations are being held accountable for the actions of the political leaders they elected (thus affecting the lives of so many others – on a national and international level). Imagine that people of some countries are being held liable for not fighting against despotic leaders that took power by force and inflict pain (either physical or psychological) on the nation they were supposed to lead and develop.

Many people believe that “an act of God” is indeed the expression of God’s anger.
Others suggest that, in some cases, the “Act of God” should, in fact, be labelled as the “Act of Man” for they believe some earthquakes and tsunamis occurring in the Indian and Pacific oceans are the result of military testing...

Share your thoughts with us: what is an act of God to you?

You are invited to savour a different and most interesting perspective from LS: Here.

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