Truth in a time of lies
There is nothing more poisonous to democracy and the public trust than lies. In fact, there is nothing more poisonous period, as anyone who has dealt with lies in any context can attest. Whether these be the prevarications told by public officials and personalities to avoid responsibility for decisions made, across the church pulpit by those who claim to know the moral right but act otherwise, in the dimly-lit boudoirs of unfaithful lovers, or at the family kitchen table, when a person lies its kills some part of the world.
The early 20th century British author D.H. Lawrence once wrote: “The world of men is dreaming, it has gone mad in its sleep, and a snake is strangling it, but it can't wake up.”
This quote feels even more apt in this era of falsity, hidden intentions and bald-faced lies.
How does the world begin to unravel? It does not begin with cannon fire or trumpet blast, it begins with a whisper in the ear on a dark and lonely night. A lie accepted as truth in a moment of weakness. The whisperers out there are many, and when the whisperers find their shouters those lies percolate out into the masses until the truth, like a light hidden under a bowl, becomes obscured.
The shouters are always easy to find, but its the whisperers who are the far more dangerous adversaries.
Whether speaking about Russian intelligence, North Korean intelligence, or the CIA covert hacking ops. revealed by Wikileaks a few weeks back, a vicious war of influence is being fought largely out of sight of the public for the future order of the world. However, the casualties are mounting fast and can no longer by contained in the hidden recesses of the dark web. Donald Trump’s election by an angry public is one example. The rise of the alt-right is another. North Korean sabrerattling over its nuclear missile program is another. The rise of Islamic State, the Syrian civil war, and the Sudanese famine despite the excess of food in the world also have the fingerprints of this propaganda and these whispered lies hidden somewhere in their DNA.
Recognizing truth when its been so intentionally obscured is difficult for the average person, and is beyond even the clever to decipher under circumstances like we are seeing in the world today. But remember, the truth, like the moon or sun behind the clouds, is always present even in a time of great lies. The tides move to its will. The flowers turn their faces toward its presence.