In a Free Society, Truth Should be Able to Defeat Lies
E.J. Dionne wrote, in a piece in the WASHINGTON POST on February 18:
The Obama administration argues that both the stimulus and the health bill are better than people think. That’s entirely true, and this is actually an indictment — it means that on the two big issues of the moment, Republicans and conservatives are winning an argument they should be losing.
Here is the problem –the challenge, the frustration, the failure– in a nutshell: The Republicans are winning an argument they should be losing.
It’s one thing for a man like Castellio (see the recent posts from THE RIGHT TO HERESY) to “lose” –in the short run, meaning for his own times– the argument with a cruel tyrant like John Calvin, for when Castellio’s powerful indictment of Calvin for his self-serving murder of a man simply for disagreeing with Calvin’s religious views was about to be published, Calvin reached out and silenced him. Zweig wrote of this:
the book was throttled by the censorship before it could voice its appeal to the conscience of Europe.
But no one is now throttling the voice of the Democrats, nor of others like us who care about the truth. The problem is that those with the big platform have been weak in their voices, and those with strong voices have had only small platforms. (And another part of the problem is that the American people cannot readily distinguish lies from truth.)
It seems POSSIBLE now that Obama and his team have learned their lesson. Steadily, they now seem to be working to dramatize the lies and hypocrisies of the Republicans. Gently, modestly, but perhaps effectively. Let us hope this effort, this determination continues and bear fruit.
In a free society, the truth should be able to defeat lies.
February 19th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Very much so sometime sooner than at others
However there is often a misunderstanding on the part of those who feel thay have, or are with, The Truth. How is that :
tersely said:
facts are to Truth
as logic is to Reason
February 20th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Not trying to be facetious here, but if “In a Free Society, Truth Should be Able to Defeat Lies”, and that doesn’t appear to be happening, what does it say about the notion of freedom or truth at this time? There must be something wrong with some part of the statement or the underlying premise.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
It says that the purveyors of the lies are fighting with energy and determination, while those who have the truth on their side are timid and hesitant about wielding that most important of weapons.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I think that it also means that those whose positions are dependent upon lies own most of the news venues. Their next target will be Social Security, against which they are already taking aim.
February 20th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
I agree with Jim Z that the press has been terrible, this whole decade, at sorting out truth from lies. The hypothesis that the reason for this poor performance is that the owners of the media are on the side of the liars is a reasonable one. I’m not confident that’s the heart of the matter, but at the same time I don’t have any strong alternative hypothesis to propose.
February 21st, 2010 at 9:03 am
We will continue to pay a high price in re the effects of the post 9/11 fear-mongering that was brought about through deliberate methods like secret renditions, torture, the Patriot Act and false flag operations. This fear intensified and turned to anger and, in some cases, rage. Requiring an outlet, the rise of the Tea Partiers and other conservative alliances gave voice to anger and rage instead of non-partisan work in behalf of our democracy. We must rescue ourselves from this downward spiral. Let’s do so by first figuring out how to go about it.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:11 pm
I think that is why we want, as much as possible, a FREE society regulated only as necessary for public order and economic participation for all (as possible). In a FREE society we believe TRUTH will prevail regardless of how lies and evil bring it about.
So, what is that said TRUTH. It is that circumstances are brought so that the conditions generally that we the people inhabit are the circumstances we the people ‘deserve’ in the eyes of ‘Providence’ and as well according to the universal principle of Cause and Effect.
(a set of facts relating to the moment may in themselves be correct or maybe not either, but either way they are only a symptom or maybe even a contributing influence toward TRUTH that is perpetually in progress.
February 21st, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Throughout the Bush administration I repeatedly posted words to the effect, “Where is the outrage?”. For the most part I’ve since bit my lip on Obama’s betrayal after we “cut him a lot of slack” on the campaign trail in support of a huge victory with ample “political capital”. But the fact is that MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE (or a substantial “body count” ~ J. Stack) is essential to successful dissent to the Establishment’s status quo… The Teabaggers know this and have made themselves relevant. Perhaps it is progressives that will not see. It would be wonderful if Truth could prevail on the basis of fact, logic and intellect but far too many Americans have developed “a profound need for inequality and a no less deeply rooted need to obey” (~ DeMan) over the past thirty years.
I agree that the truth should be able to defeat lies in a free society but, as a consequence of the preceding, Americans have unconsciously relinquished their freedom… absent effective and immediate dissent we will succumb to fascist totalitarianism.
February 21st, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Gus, I offer the observation that most dissent-short of violent overthrow or persistent strikes by labor- succeed when there is already political leadership in favor of the change as were the Kennedys(ies) in the cause of racial integration.
Public protest that does NOT accomplish the aim only demonstrates the weakness of ‘the people’ and confirms the course of ‘the powers that be’.
I am not drawing from Biblical examples alone. I do believe I see that leadership arises for effective protest when the time comes. ‘Til then
you can only demonstrate you weakness and impotence.
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:11 pm
David; I understand your viewpoint… I once shared it.
While kindly not citing Biblical passages your words nevertheless reveal a conditioned reliance on authoritarian dogma which is the foundation of a faith-based, emotionally-held belief in the righteousness and legitimacy of the “Powers That Be” and the “weakness and impotence” of the all the rest of us.
Since the Dark Ages of authoritarian religious dominance, many amongst the “unwashed masses” have cast off such Enslavement of the Soul and experientially discovered their inherent human consciousness and authentic inner spirit and consequently realized with clarity that We Are All One… One With All That Is… interconnected and mutually interdependent beyond intellectual comprehension. The natural Union of Mankind arising from such acknowledgement invariably transforms our conditioned state of helplessness into the awareness that we, even as individuals, are powerful beyond all psychologically imposed limitations… and collectively we have the virtual capacity of the Divine. We are transformed (born again, as you might say) from fear, greed and authoritarian submission into a higher spiritual state of universal compassion and empathy (in accordance with the universal “Golden Rule”.
That others, such as yourself, find the allure of tradition and prevailing opinion to be irresistibly comforting (or profitable) is and shall remain socially acceptable but we can only hope that those amongst you who have eyes that can see will someday make a serious effort to convince your more fundamentalist brethren to “tone it down”. Their ubiquitous ranting and worldwide proselytizing is entirely destructive and counter-productive… particularly right now, on the heels of rapacious financial misconduct by the “Powers That Be” that you so faithfully respect.
In my lifetime, America has not experienced such considerable potential for constructive leadership as might now be offered by Obama. He is quite obviously aware that We, as a People, are neither weak nor impotent; that we are simply anesthetized by the institutional (corporate) matrix within which we live. He, I discern, has been forcibly compelled, against his wishes, to preserve the Elite’s position of unchallenged control. Unlike Jesus, Obama has no desire to become a martyr but I am convinced that he’d very much like to transform the existential matrix from the institutional construct of emotionally held dogma, social Darwinism, fear, greed, competition and propaganda to one of Unity, with compassion, empathy under the timeless Wisdom of spiritual Oneness… to lead our nation into the paradigm of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” with “liberty and justice for all” as envisioned by our Founders who came here to escape what you seem to espouse. America sorely needs all of us… We the People (the 98%+)… to stand up and “cover his back” so he can follow through with an effort to help us realize a “more perfect Union”.
Despite my rhetorical style, I don’t mean any of this as a personal attack on you or your beliefs, but rather as an appeal to you, and those who, like my own extended family, share your views, to awaken to the possibility of a better world in this life. Let us all somehow find a way to unite before the “Powers That Be” find it necessary to impose some “adult supervision” on us all in the form of a fascist police State… They may toss you a bone or two but deep down you know it won’t be Theocratic!
Namaste;
Gus Falconer