Entry 02

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 01.20.2020

“The concept of what it is to be human has altered, and the word “truth” so needs quotation marks around it that its absence (its elusiveness) is stronger than its presence.”

Toni Morrison, “The Origin of Others; Being or Becoming the Stranger.”

I cannot continue to look away and wait for better times. I believe it is up to me to be those better times. I must speak my heart and mind openly in support of justice and an inclusive future. We live in a time that has accepted the total evisceration of “truth” as the inevitable result of our democratic form of governance. “Alternative Facts,” once recognized as fantastic ignorance, are now too often willfully used in blatant lying as if the lies have bearing. In our time, when repeated loudly and frequently enough, lies carry more weight than honestly presented verifiable reality. The Truth.

“Truth” has become meaningless. It is a dead word not worth the breath used to speak it. I hear otherwise intelligent people defend as if it were a right the representation of blatant lies as “truth” as if lying were merely the expression of opinion and not a willful attempt to manipulate and direct the results of what should be an honest conversation. It is designed and intended to produce a one-sided and unfair outcome. It is the destruction of civility, courtesy and considerate behavior toward others. It is selfish bullshit flying in the face of any effort to find mutuality in the benefits of living together in a shared democratic society.

“When the truth is found to be lies and all the joy within you dies”

The Great Society, “Somebody To Love”

I am here to claim my right to call self-serving lying out for what it is. It is the taproot of totalitarianism. It is the worst of the worst of human behavior. It is Bullshit and it has no place in a democratic society. It needs to stop. And just to be clear, it is the lying not the liar I have no tolerance for. On the contrary, there is a desperate pathos in liars I find dangerous, but fun to watch. Not unlike a poisonous snake.

“For evil to succeed, all it needs is for good men to do nothing.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.