“I am not a crook.” He was. “I did not have relations with that woman.” He did. “The air is safe.” It wasn’t. “Sadaam’s got stockpiles of WMDs.” Nary a one. “We have found absolutely no link between vaccines and autism.” They had. “Insert quote here.” Insert truth here. The past eight years provided too many lies to list. (I won’t go near some of Rumsfeld’s bizarre contortions.) If our current President ran into the doppelgänger who campaigned in his stead they’d probably annihilate each other like matter and antimatter. Don’t try to tell me it’s all for national security!
Houston, we have a problem. The bridge to reality is tenuous and weakening. Often it simply does not exist at all. The problem goes beyond the fact that powers of press are in bed with powers of government. The cameras are rolling, officials are speaking, the media presents it’s spectacle, and maybe you feel informed. In front of the camera might very well stand a lie, no matter how well packaged. The courts have determined that media is under no obligation to tell us the truth – even when presented as news. So how can we have any confidence in information we receive? We can’t.
And yes, that’s a big problem. Government continually undermines its credibility, yet asks us to believe more and more outlandish tales.
With the world’s highest ratio of citizens jailed to citizens free, more of the jailed ones should be ones who lie in public about grave public matters. If there’s people incarcerated for merely smoking a joint, or stealing a loaf of bread, don’t you think swaying the masses with false claims deserves a cell? Lies can, and do, kill. Lies hide crimes. Deceiving from a position of authority is a damn serious offense, whether it is on the books (yet) or not. And think how cheap the trials would be, I mean just watch the video again and then sentence the bastard. Postpeakpublishing suggests we develop a scale of severity, then demand truth or demand punishment. Any claims of national security must be proven. There is no other solution to revive trust. And don’t forget, trust in government is critical to national security!