Truth Or Not
We all grew up in a country where our culture and belief structures are based on truths. Even as children we were admonished by our parents to "tell the truth." If, as children, we did not tell the truth, the adult in charge would inform us of the gravity of the situation and reward us by not subjecting us to the punishment, if we simply told the truth. In every church, the foundation of the religion is based on truth. Yet people, particularly in America today, seem to easily find ways to circumnavigate the concept and reality of truth in their lives. We have become a nation that is quick to judge but yet, we are extremely thin-skinned when it comes to criticism from people within our own nation and foreign concerns are thrown off by, "oh, they're just jealous of our freedoms and wealth," to the arrogant disclaimer, "we don't let foreign governments dictate US policy."
Despite the fact that many of us claim an allegiance to truth, the facts belie something different on the national scene. We live in a nation where politicians get elected on platforms filled with half-truths and out right lies. Our media has become the tool of whatever conservative or liberal view that wields the most power in the nation, rather than being the arbiter of truth and information that people expect from their news sources.
But this love/hate affair with whether or not we want the whole truth about any situation has become a worldwide problem. One lie that is far from public view is the power of multi-nationals in the world and their growing power in more than the areas of commerce. When multi-nationals found a way to purchase water rights from certain countries in Africa, South America, and India, water that is the life giving blood to every walking human being, the poor people living in those impoverished villages must now buy what God had given to them for free with the meager funds they can earn. It wasn't enough that these corporations, encouraged by first world nations, raped these countries for their natural resources and practically enslaved these people in their own nations by not paying fair wages and by not providing first world living conditions to the inhabitants of these countries, because to do so would have affected the bottom line and cut profits. Mother earth is being adversely affected by industrialization and the mechanization of modern society and strains to throw off the negative effects that has changed the face of the industrialized world since the dawn of the twentieth century.
The new quest for power by the white guys in power today in America is the push for democracy in the rest of the world, regardless of whether or not the rest of the world wishes to adopt democracy or not. The zeal of the fundamentalist Christians to spread the word of God as translated into their theology to the rest of the world, are as fanatical as the Mulas in Afghanistan or the jihad of the Muslims who believe that killing an infidel will land them into heaven. Each group has pinned their worth and value, their righteous anger on a misrepresentation of the fundamentals of their beliefs for a so-called higher end, regardless of the fact that the higher end will result in them gaining power for their side. Politicians in America and the rest of the world come equipped with silver tongues to lull the fearful and troubled psyches of their voting constituencies to garner votes. Ministers stand in pulpits and address congress with venom and hatred directed at different groups because these men of God feel that they have the right to condemn the actions of other people when in fact God made it clear that only He could judge the sins of people.
There is so much hatred and division in America today, we don't need to look outside our own country to try and fix any problems or ills. Americans calling other Americans unpatriotic because they don't agree on the issue of whether or not we should have invaded Iraq is ludicrous. The best way we can honor the men and women who place their lives on the line everyday for us on foreign soil is to demand truth from our leaders about why they are there, and demand a date when they can come home. The nation was based on the concept of freedom of speech, yet freedom of speech has been bastardized by this administration by its erection of "free speech zones" and the active selection of who can (those who support Bush policies) and who cannot attend forums where the president or his advisors appear. Although many Americans can read, most allow themselves to be swayed by what they hear, rather than what their eyes tell them is the truth about where they live and what is going on around them.
So, I guess it's true that most of us would rather be told that everything is "A-okay" rather than being told the truth. Young men and women put their lives on the line everyday for us, and yet we cannot honor them by demanding the truth about the real reasons we went into Iraq. Just why did the people who died in the 9/11 attack really die? Don't their deaths warrant the full truth from the administration about what they knew and when? Why are reports about 9/11 still being redacted and withheld from public view? The truth is what should set us all free and yet so few of us really want to know the real truth.
Sugar-coating reality by telling a bit of the truth is opening our civilization up to catastrophe. Why is it mankind must always deal with the truth when some great cataclysmic event happens that destroys thousands of innocent lives do we suddenly become aware and decide to react? Do we really need another World War to unite us against implied or real evil? When will men learn that all of us are vulnerable to venality and some who crave power more so than the rest of us? We cannot symbolically give up our power to a man, anymore than we would leave a box of money on our front lawn with a sign saying, "life savings, don't touch."
It is imperative that each of us seek the truth of the issues that effect our lives. If we have to brace for the cold hard facts of reality then the bracing is better than the pain of losing a loved one to the horrors of war. Wake up America. The clock is ticking and the time is now too act and not in the future,when inaction could foretell doom.
Despite the fact that many of us claim an allegiance to truth, the facts belie something different on the national scene. We live in a nation where politicians get elected on platforms filled with half-truths and out right lies. Our media has become the tool of whatever conservative or liberal view that wields the most power in the nation, rather than being the arbiter of truth and information that people expect from their news sources.
But this love/hate affair with whether or not we want the whole truth about any situation has become a worldwide problem. One lie that is far from public view is the power of multi-nationals in the world and their growing power in more than the areas of commerce. When multi-nationals found a way to purchase water rights from certain countries in Africa, South America, and India, water that is the life giving blood to every walking human being, the poor people living in those impoverished villages must now buy what God had given to them for free with the meager funds they can earn. It wasn't enough that these corporations, encouraged by first world nations, raped these countries for their natural resources and practically enslaved these people in their own nations by not paying fair wages and by not providing first world living conditions to the inhabitants of these countries, because to do so would have affected the bottom line and cut profits. Mother earth is being adversely affected by industrialization and the mechanization of modern society and strains to throw off the negative effects that has changed the face of the industrialized world since the dawn of the twentieth century.
The new quest for power by the white guys in power today in America is the push for democracy in the rest of the world, regardless of whether or not the rest of the world wishes to adopt democracy or not. The zeal of the fundamentalist Christians to spread the word of God as translated into their theology to the rest of the world, are as fanatical as the Mulas in Afghanistan or the jihad of the Muslims who believe that killing an infidel will land them into heaven. Each group has pinned their worth and value, their righteous anger on a misrepresentation of the fundamentals of their beliefs for a so-called higher end, regardless of the fact that the higher end will result in them gaining power for their side. Politicians in America and the rest of the world come equipped with silver tongues to lull the fearful and troubled psyches of their voting constituencies to garner votes. Ministers stand in pulpits and address congress with venom and hatred directed at different groups because these men of God feel that they have the right to condemn the actions of other people when in fact God made it clear that only He could judge the sins of people.
There is so much hatred and division in America today, we don't need to look outside our own country to try and fix any problems or ills. Americans calling other Americans unpatriotic because they don't agree on the issue of whether or not we should have invaded Iraq is ludicrous. The best way we can honor the men and women who place their lives on the line everyday for us on foreign soil is to demand truth from our leaders about why they are there, and demand a date when they can come home. The nation was based on the concept of freedom of speech, yet freedom of speech has been bastardized by this administration by its erection of "free speech zones" and the active selection of who can (those who support Bush policies) and who cannot attend forums where the president or his advisors appear. Although many Americans can read, most allow themselves to be swayed by what they hear, rather than what their eyes tell them is the truth about where they live and what is going on around them.
So, I guess it's true that most of us would rather be told that everything is "A-okay" rather than being told the truth. Young men and women put their lives on the line everyday for us, and yet we cannot honor them by demanding the truth about the real reasons we went into Iraq. Just why did the people who died in the 9/11 attack really die? Don't their deaths warrant the full truth from the administration about what they knew and when? Why are reports about 9/11 still being redacted and withheld from public view? The truth is what should set us all free and yet so few of us really want to know the real truth.
Sugar-coating reality by telling a bit of the truth is opening our civilization up to catastrophe. Why is it mankind must always deal with the truth when some great cataclysmic event happens that destroys thousands of innocent lives do we suddenly become aware and decide to react? Do we really need another World War to unite us against implied or real evil? When will men learn that all of us are vulnerable to venality and some who crave power more so than the rest of us? We cannot symbolically give up our power to a man, anymore than we would leave a box of money on our front lawn with a sign saying, "life savings, don't touch."
It is imperative that each of us seek the truth of the issues that effect our lives. If we have to brace for the cold hard facts of reality then the bracing is better than the pain of losing a loved one to the horrors of war. Wake up America. The clock is ticking and the time is now too act and not in the future,when inaction could foretell doom.
posted by taylorlee at 3:44 PM
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