Several years ago, the Final Jeopardy question asked- well, stated- that the above was the motto of "this organization". I think all three contestants guessed that it was The NAACP.
It is the motto of the Central Intelligence Agency! Who knew? Well, not those people...
I'm not so sure that the truth was ever accepted as an avenue to freedom in the history of this world but, it sure seems quite unimportant now, perhaps more than ever. Everything is open to debate. Indeed, someone could research my claim that there were three contestants on the show that day and perhaps discover that the accountant from Wilkesboro, Pa, had finished the Double Jeopardy round in a deficit thus not qualifying for Final Jeopardy and making Ferrerman a FUCKING LIAR!!!! This, to some, would totally blow me out of the water! And if the guy wasn't an accountant or from Pennsylvania, there you go!
Whatever, that's their motto. They probably say it a lot while water-boarding suspects, even if they don't mean it. I imagine it's always a good idea to make people think the torture will stop if they fess up. I also don't think they really care so much about the truth as they merely desire to hear confirmation of what they already believe is true. It's the same with Foxnews and most people on the internet.
That's the way truth goes these days. It's more relative to what a person or group of persons thinks than ever before. People believe crazy things, often, the crazier the better. There was a very smart guy on Colbert last night talking about "nothing" in the universe. I would have like to have been high for that segment but, I was able to sorta kinda keep up, just the same. That the universe came out of nothing is likely true and, to me, every bit as plausible as God inventing the universe. You can argue: "Who invented God?" just as well as "Who invented nothing?" Actually, nothing makes more sense. The smart man wasn't out to prove there was no God. He just felt he had proved God was not necessary to create the universe. I got that.
I try to consider why people believe something is true. People argue about whether homosexuality is genetic or learned behavior. It's clearly genetic to me. Most gay people report they always felt gay, from their earliest childhood memories. I remember an ABC report on twin boys who were about seven at the time. Same DNA but one brother was "all boy" into sports and roughhousing and the other liked dolls and dressing up as a princess. The same parents raised them in the same house, in the same way but, the boys were decidedly different. Seems pretty obviously genetic to me.
Some would deny the genetics of it all perhaps because they refuse to believe that God would purposely create gays when clearly some Bible verse says men are not supposed to lay down with men. So, there ya go. Or, maybe they experimented a bit in college and soaked another guys cork. If it's genetic, they might have to face up to their own secret desires. They liked it but, knew it was *wrong* and they just weren't ever gonna do that again! Just maybe look at it on the internet from time to time... Or, they simply might refuse to believe that they and the little woman created a child who was gay because that might suggest there was something wrong with them. So, they believe that the truth is people choose to be gay because non-Christian liberals talk people into being gay because, that's what they do....
Well, that makes sense....
There's always conflict with science and religion. You have to take religion on faith and much of science- since it's theory- is taken on a sort of faith as well. But, science at least tries very, very hard to prove stuff while religion is more "I told you so!" Because I said so, doesn't cut it with me. You might be right about something. but you need to convince me as to why. Just being the boss or The Pope doesn't get it.
People deny global warming. Why? For some it's Biblical in that (though the Bible doesn't discuss it) it's scientific theory and that is evil in itself. For others it's financial and thus, political. Global warming to some is an invention of the democrats who are really communists because they hate business because they just want to tax and spend and regulate people just for the sake of regulating people. Well, there ya go...
Never in the history of the world has there been one billion fossil-fuel burning automobiles on the road. NEVER! So, it seems to me that emissions from those vehicles and from hundreds of thousands of factories that we never had before either, just might be mucking up the air that we breathe and the climate in general. Ya think? Mother Earth has never known the world we live in today. There are, 7 billion people in the world? More? Less? Whatever, we are beating the old record by billions. It's idiotic to disavow the cars, factories and sheer numbers NOT having a negative impact. What the fuck is there to argue if so many people can't even grasp that damage is possible in the first place?
The truth is that there are more stupid people on earth than ever. We're making more every day. Some people, many of them world leaders or Foxnews pundits, like it this way. Stupid people believe what they are told and only question what others try to tell them. Stupid people do not think. They have people who do that for them. It's stupid but, it's easier.
Stupidity isn't genetic though. It's learned behavior. It can be cured. If only we would try...
5 comments:
I think the reason many people believe global warming is untrue is because they realize if it is true, it would require international cooperation to fix the problem. The idea of working with other countries freaks a lot of Republicans out. They tend to be "unilateralists".
I don't know what they cite in the Bible that is supposed to back them up, though. I do remember Santorum saying something about "stewards of the planet" or something.
P.S. I Googled the phrase, and saw that both James A. Garfield and Mark Twain allegedly said: "The truth will set you free but first it will make you miserable". Whoever said it, it's pretty accurate.
I just saw the quote attributed to Gloria Steinem. That was some ironic timing! My money's on Twain as he was a genius and highly quotable.
Good point about the cooperation. But, imagine trying to tell 1 billion Chinese to clean up their act when people here still think dumping sewage into rivers "keeps costs down for consumers".
As Einstein said, 'Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.'
With regard to truth under torture, I don't believe you could hang anything on that. I know for sure that if someone was giving me pain, I'd tell them anything they wanted to hear. I think those men of God, the Inquisitors, established that way back in the middle ages.
We have a giggle at our house when science programmes are on and that dreaded word 'evolution' is mentioned. We both say, 'Whoops! All the fundamentalist tellies have just gone off.'
I think most boys like to play with dolls at some stage, usually when they are little. Both mine liked dolls and the youngest went through a little phase of wearing a kilt and wellies around the house when he was about ten. It didn't bother us. He's married now with three boys of his own, but it wouldn't have bothered us if he'd been gay. You are what you are, and that's why you love 'em.
With regard to global warming, we're all going to have to bite the bullet. The atmosphere doesn't just hover over your own bit of land so we're all going to have to stop polluting. We need to stop putting crap into the air rather than paying a tax to do so, or trading carbon against it. I really can't see how that will curb industrial pollution.
We're getting a hefty carbon tax in OZ. All the polluters are doing is passing the cost on to consumers. So now, everyone is pissed off, even though we are trying to do something about it.
Fines! Now I think that would work. But then again, they'd just pass the cost on.
Some unscrupulous bastards are passing on a cost when there isn't one!
Yes, it doesn't solve anything to allow them to do it...for the right price. Politicians go on and on about leaving debt to our grandchildren (when they don't really care) but not about leaving polluted water and air for them. Again, this earth has never known such a civilization and never will again.
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