Since Counterpoint mentioned the quote-bludgeoning, and endeavored to bring it nearer to totality, I figured somebody oughta remind us all of another great line ‘bout lyin’, in the broadest sense. It comes from a too-seldom mentioned (nowadays, anyway) great man, Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
Orwell is good. Sissela Bok, Lying; A Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, is as well. I fear it is in the nature of humans since we lie convincingly from very early in our lives. What is strange is that we lie more easily than we discern lies. One might think that the value of truth would be so great that evolution would have outfitted us better to detect it - or the lack of it. The opposite seems to be true. Lies are so comforting that we seem to be unable to throw them off. Truth is referred to as "hard" for a reason.
So I have a question. As someone that has been up close and personal with the Commanders in Lies, is it acceptable to lie to protect us from ourselves? Should we be told everything? Should we be told how bad things are or will become? Did we need to know if he did have sex with that woman? Do you really want to know if our own military shot down an American airliner with souls onboard over PA on 9/11? Do you want to know if the CIA waterboarded terrorists in order to attempt to save lives? Do you want to know if anyone woke up HRC to tell her, her people were being killed at the US Mission in Benghazi and what she should do to help? Please I don't think any of us want to know what former President Tangelo said or did. How did we know he was lying? His lips moved. Are those lies acceptable? Or are they omissions of truths?
Honestly, I am not as smart as many, many, of you here. You all make me smarter. But as i have said here before I have been better lucky than good as well as being blessed. The comments and replies here, especially, on this particular thread are thought provoking even to a very simple minded guy like me. Thank you all, seriously. Shout out to Matt, Paps is very proud! 'Yep that's my Grandson"
Not to get all spiritual on ya here Matt but we don’t just need a healthy dose of Orwell to ground us we need God’s Holy Spirit. When Paul talks about putting on the full Armour of God he’s telling us we can’t fight the good fight and stand for the truth without some help. Discerning the truth is a byproduct of asking for God’s help to do so. Of course this requires listening for His still small voice—and people, even those that claim they speak for God, aren’t very practiced at that anymore.
So, as Orwell observed in “1984”, “War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength.” All these many years later, we are now fed a regular diet of black is white, up is down, hot is cold, left is right, flashing Iranian war plans is nothing more than ‘bravado,’ etc., etc., ad nauseum from the Orange Odin and/or Tangerine Emperor and somehow Orwell can help us all figure out a way to deal with it? That is one damn tall order. I’m flippin’-assed depressed. I’m heading to the Henry’s Fork to deal with it all.
I think the line by Orwell about concentration camps in Germany and India and Jews in Germany and color laws in South Africa (were not as bad as they would become after 1947) undermines your point. It was in service of an untruth. The same that Hitchens loved. That British Imperialism was a patch on Fascism or Communism. It is, in fact, in service of a lie.
Matt? Donald here. No, Senior, not Junior. Not gonna' send a kid to do a man's job. Not this time at least. I've got more respect for ya' than that. And this group probably needs a more daft...uh....deft touch than the kid can handle.
About this lying problem you're soundin' off about and which someone I don't know and never met called to my attention. What lying problem? Is there a lie shortage that I don't know about? Been a little out of the official loop on things lately. Those docs I stashed in the bathroom were a bit dated and I meant to flush 'em and get some new ones with more current info, but it sort of slipped my mind. Or maybe I just forgot they were there. Hard to keep track when I had to shuffle them around so much. But this sounds serious. Maybe a national security problem. The lie shortage, I mean. Not the other thing. Lies are the life blood of our politics. And a whole lot of other stuff, like advertising and...what's that thing again? It's right on the tip of my tongue. Kind of like advertising. Cripes, I guess Joe's not the only one gettin' a little long in the tooth...
Oh yeah! Branding. And I don't mean cattle, though cattle will ride for the brand if you pitch 'em just right. This is all probably just a supply chain problem brought on by those stupid Ds, who wouldn't know how to handle the logistics of a good lie if their lives depended on it. Actually, Clinton didn't do too bad for a while... until that amateur folded like a cheap suit when they put him under oath. The pussy.
Anyway, guess it's a good thing I was born with a lifetime supply of lies already in hand and don't have to worry about that sort of thing personally. Hell, I've got so many - an absolute embarrassment of riches, actually - I've been pretty much giving 'em away to deserving folks in large quantities for free for quite a while now. But keep that under your hat, will ya'? Folks might start to say I'm magananimous or something like that, and I actually embarrass quite easily in the face of any praise. It's just hard to see me blush under the orange make-up. And it might make me come off as something of a closet softie, which, of course, would be a vicious lie. I'm just trying to do my bit for the country, giving the people what they want and what they apparently really, really need.
But here's the thing, Matt. The *truth* is that lawyers are damned expensive. And I've been through a lot of 'em. Christ, you'd think I'd be entitled to a volume discount or something by now, wouldn't ya'? So, if some of your fine readers - I'm sure they're all absolutely fine and good people from that little slice of Tide demographics you dropped in your post, and even if there are few who aren't exactly white, I'm sure they're just as fine, 'cause they got green money and good people on both sides and like that, you know - anyway, if they could just go to donaldjtruth.lies and pony up a few bucks for my defense fun...I mean campaign... I can stay on the loos...uh, keep on campaigning despite the efforts of that lyin' s.o.b. Jack Smith and his lyin' lib friends and the lyin' deep state and continue my crusade to serve all the fine folks out there by giving them more of what they want and need. A lot more. A whole lot more. Lies so yuuuuge they won't believe it when they hear 'em. Which might be a problem, now that I think about it. Well, I'll burn that bridge when I jump off it.
But before I forget, what about this Orwell guy? What the hell does he know about liying? I hear he wrote about pigs or somethin' like that. Or maybe he's a pig. Not sure which, but a lot of people are sayin' something about him and pigs.
Thanks, Matt. By the way, I ran into some M. guy on the way in from the car. Asked if I'd do him a favor and drop something off for ya'. I don't know, the guy's kind of suspect in my book. Said not only that he didn't vote for me twice, but he was lookin' forward to makin' it a hat trick, if it comes to that. Which tells me this schmuck wouldn't know a good lie if it walked up and kicked him in the effin' chin. So, what the hell would he know about a good song about lying? Nothing, I'll bet. But here it is, he managed to con me into doing this somehow. Like I said, he's kind of sketchy. Just don't blame me. Or shoot me. This ain't Fith Avenue, I'm unarmed, and I am after all only the mirror. I mean messenger.
By the way, just to show my appreciation for all you fine folks, free subs for everybody! On me! (Psssttt...hey, Walt...you tell those Secret Service guys to keep the motor running like I told you to? Good...)
"For people in public life are frequently there in the first place as the beneficiaries of a spoils system – a spoils system that has become deeply, perhaps irreparably spoiled." First thought that popped into my mind upon reading this sentence was - Hunter Biden. And while he is the most prominent name in the news right now, he is by no means the only one - on either side. The excerpts from Orwell startlingly point out that more man changes, the more he stays the same.
Matt, right out of the chute with the two most nut bag Republican congresswomen with their usual daft proposals. I’m a one trick pony with this I know, but surely on the left you could find some juicy targets for your piercing witticisms ( I know, I know you are disappointed with the Republicans, having been one, but I see such opportunities!) Thanks for the Orwell, good to be reminded.
Aside from ruminating on totalitarianism, I am often reminded of a saying that Gene Burns, a libertarian radio talk show host of long ago, used to tell his listeners: Don't believe anything that I tell you unless you know it to be true or have independently verified its veracity. Presumably he meant it for assessing the "truth" of anything anyone proffers. (Except, of course, the esteemed Matt Labash).
I should mentiont, my wife and I owned a machine shop for many years. Double lead screws are stock and trade.
Since Counterpoint mentioned the quote-bludgeoning, and endeavored to bring it nearer to totality, I figured somebody oughta remind us all of another great line ‘bout lyin’, in the broadest sense. It comes from a too-seldom mentioned (nowadays, anyway) great man, Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
Orwell is good. Sissela Bok, Lying; A Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, is as well. I fear it is in the nature of humans since we lie convincingly from very early in our lives. What is strange is that we lie more easily than we discern lies. One might think that the value of truth would be so great that evolution would have outfitted us better to detect it - or the lack of it. The opposite seems to be true. Lies are so comforting that we seem to be unable to throw them off. Truth is referred to as "hard" for a reason.
So I have a question. As someone that has been up close and personal with the Commanders in Lies, is it acceptable to lie to protect us from ourselves? Should we be told everything? Should we be told how bad things are or will become? Did we need to know if he did have sex with that woman? Do you really want to know if our own military shot down an American airliner with souls onboard over PA on 9/11? Do you want to know if the CIA waterboarded terrorists in order to attempt to save lives? Do you want to know if anyone woke up HRC to tell her, her people were being killed at the US Mission in Benghazi and what she should do to help? Please I don't think any of us want to know what former President Tangelo said or did. How did we know he was lying? His lips moved. Are those lies acceptable? Or are they omissions of truths?
Honestly, I am not as smart as many, many, of you here. You all make me smarter. But as i have said here before I have been better lucky than good as well as being blessed. The comments and replies here, especially, on this particular thread are thought provoking even to a very simple minded guy like me. Thank you all, seriously. Shout out to Matt, Paps is very proud! 'Yep that's my Grandson"
Not to get all spiritual on ya here Matt but we don’t just need a healthy dose of Orwell to ground us we need God’s Holy Spirit. When Paul talks about putting on the full Armour of God he’s telling us we can’t fight the good fight and stand for the truth without some help. Discerning the truth is a byproduct of asking for God’s help to do so. Of course this requires listening for His still small voice—and people, even those that claim they speak for God, aren’t very practiced at that anymore.
So, as Orwell observed in “1984”, “War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength.” All these many years later, we are now fed a regular diet of black is white, up is down, hot is cold, left is right, flashing Iranian war plans is nothing more than ‘bravado,’ etc., etc., ad nauseum from the Orange Odin and/or Tangerine Emperor and somehow Orwell can help us all figure out a way to deal with it? That is one damn tall order. I’m flippin’-assed depressed. I’m heading to the Henry’s Fork to deal with it all.
I think the line by Orwell about concentration camps in Germany and India and Jews in Germany and color laws in South Africa (were not as bad as they would become after 1947) undermines your point. It was in service of an untruth. The same that Hitchens loved. That British Imperialism was a patch on Fascism or Communism. It is, in fact, in service of a lie.
I’m going to bludgeon away with my favorite Orwell quote “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Matt? Donald here. No, Senior, not Junior. Not gonna' send a kid to do a man's job. Not this time at least. I've got more respect for ya' than that. And this group probably needs a more daft...uh....deft touch than the kid can handle.
About this lying problem you're soundin' off about and which someone I don't know and never met called to my attention. What lying problem? Is there a lie shortage that I don't know about? Been a little out of the official loop on things lately. Those docs I stashed in the bathroom were a bit dated and I meant to flush 'em and get some new ones with more current info, but it sort of slipped my mind. Or maybe I just forgot they were there. Hard to keep track when I had to shuffle them around so much. But this sounds serious. Maybe a national security problem. The lie shortage, I mean. Not the other thing. Lies are the life blood of our politics. And a whole lot of other stuff, like advertising and...what's that thing again? It's right on the tip of my tongue. Kind of like advertising. Cripes, I guess Joe's not the only one gettin' a little long in the tooth...
Oh yeah! Branding. And I don't mean cattle, though cattle will ride for the brand if you pitch 'em just right. This is all probably just a supply chain problem brought on by those stupid Ds, who wouldn't know how to handle the logistics of a good lie if their lives depended on it. Actually, Clinton didn't do too bad for a while... until that amateur folded like a cheap suit when they put him under oath. The pussy.
Anyway, guess it's a good thing I was born with a lifetime supply of lies already in hand and don't have to worry about that sort of thing personally. Hell, I've got so many - an absolute embarrassment of riches, actually - I've been pretty much giving 'em away to deserving folks in large quantities for free for quite a while now. But keep that under your hat, will ya'? Folks might start to say I'm magananimous or something like that, and I actually embarrass quite easily in the face of any praise. It's just hard to see me blush under the orange make-up. And it might make me come off as something of a closet softie, which, of course, would be a vicious lie. I'm just trying to do my bit for the country, giving the people what they want and what they apparently really, really need.
But here's the thing, Matt. The *truth* is that lawyers are damned expensive. And I've been through a lot of 'em. Christ, you'd think I'd be entitled to a volume discount or something by now, wouldn't ya'? So, if some of your fine readers - I'm sure they're all absolutely fine and good people from that little slice of Tide demographics you dropped in your post, and even if there are few who aren't exactly white, I'm sure they're just as fine, 'cause they got green money and good people on both sides and like that, you know - anyway, if they could just go to donaldjtruth.lies and pony up a few bucks for my defense fun...I mean campaign... I can stay on the loos...uh, keep on campaigning despite the efforts of that lyin' s.o.b. Jack Smith and his lyin' lib friends and the lyin' deep state and continue my crusade to serve all the fine folks out there by giving them more of what they want and need. A lot more. A whole lot more. Lies so yuuuuge they won't believe it when they hear 'em. Which might be a problem, now that I think about it. Well, I'll burn that bridge when I jump off it.
But before I forget, what about this Orwell guy? What the hell does he know about liying? I hear he wrote about pigs or somethin' like that. Or maybe he's a pig. Not sure which, but a lot of people are sayin' something about him and pigs.
Thanks, Matt. By the way, I ran into some M. guy on the way in from the car. Asked if I'd do him a favor and drop something off for ya'. I don't know, the guy's kind of suspect in my book. Said not only that he didn't vote for me twice, but he was lookin' forward to makin' it a hat trick, if it comes to that. Which tells me this schmuck wouldn't know a good lie if it walked up and kicked him in the effin' chin. So, what the hell would he know about a good song about lying? Nothing, I'll bet. But here it is, he managed to con me into doing this somehow. Like I said, he's kind of sketchy. Just don't blame me. Or shoot me. This ain't Fith Avenue, I'm unarmed, and I am after all only the mirror. I mean messenger.
By the way, just to show my appreciation for all you fine folks, free subs for everybody! On me! (Psssttt...hey, Walt...you tell those Secret Service guys to keep the motor running like I told you to? Good...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tigVYfHVmQ
"For people in public life are frequently there in the first place as the beneficiaries of a spoils system – a spoils system that has become deeply, perhaps irreparably spoiled." First thought that popped into my mind upon reading this sentence was - Hunter Biden. And while he is the most prominent name in the news right now, he is by no means the only one - on either side. The excerpts from Orwell startlingly point out that more man changes, the more he stays the same.
Sir Walter Scott, 1808: “O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
Matt, right out of the chute with the two most nut bag Republican congresswomen with their usual daft proposals. I’m a one trick pony with this I know, but surely on the left you could find some juicy targets for your piercing witticisms ( I know, I know you are disappointed with the Republicans, having been one, but I see such opportunities!) Thanks for the Orwell, good to be reminded.
Thanks Matt.
Interesting Fact: The “Good Guys” have won every major war and conflict since recorded history. Truly remarkable.
You're telling me if Alana decided she wanted to be The Enemy of the Good, you wouldn't "let" her? Sure, buddy. I call bullshit right there.
Aside from ruminating on totalitarianism, I am often reminded of a saying that Gene Burns, a libertarian radio talk show host of long ago, used to tell his listeners: Don't believe anything that I tell you unless you know it to be true or have independently verified its veracity. Presumably he meant it for assessing the "truth" of anything anyone proffers. (Except, of course, the esteemed Matt Labash).
Keep bringing it brother