....lies of omission and other fun stuff

No one can lie, no one can hide anything, 
when he looks directly into someone's eyes.
Paulo Coelho


I was thinking about the reasons people lie....
It seems there are as many different kinds of lies as there are people 

who tell them....

I think we all do it....lie. 

There are the little white lies of course...

 most of those probably go out into the Universe with little or no impact...unnoticed...I think you know the kind...
How are you? Fine....

I was just going to call you...
I fell asleep
You look great!


And there are the lies that get told when

 when someone wants to avoid an issue or calm a situation.,,,or crate one

Lies are told to protect others...these are often considered noble....
we tell lies to protect ourselves from the possible consequences of the truth...

and of course from punishment...

or to hold on to something or gain something.

 we agree to tell each other lies 
to hold on to the status quo...
group lies can be a comforting way to avoid truth.

People lie to improve their image....
humans tend to exaggerate and bluff, to impress or mislead. 
Lies get told to gain control of a situation 
or to control another human..

Corporations and Spin Drs. do it all the time....
to control us.

Lies of omission...this are nasty things, lies of silence...
withholding of information
 thus leaving a false impression, 
allowing a false belief....
these lies can be most damaging

People who spin the truth for governments often leave out important bits of information in their desire to control how people might behave
 if they had the full truth....
Corporate news does it all the time..omits important information...

Omission is a suppression of the truth...

 Some say a lie of omission is not a lie at all, but that's a lie.


Among other common lies, we have the silent lie...the deception which one conveys by simply keeping still and concealing the truth.   Many obstinate truth-mongers indulge in this dissipation, imagining that if they speak no lie, they lie not at all.
Mark Twain

Then there are people who lie for no reason...

they lie when it would be just as easy to tell the truth.  

And they will continue the lie even when the truth is evident....

these kinds of lies make me me feel out of balance.  
I call it being gaslighted.

Most likely when someone says they will never lie to you...it's a lie..


I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.
Friedrich Nietzche

And of course there are the lies we tell ourselves....sigh..

but that's another whole issue...

....the world around me

I’ve had a lot of company over the past few days…
family…
people I miss when they leave. I was kept very busy though, so no time to post here until now…and no time to catch up on reading other blogs til now.
I’ve pretty much stopped watching television news…once in a while I watch Democracy Now…and I listen to FSR and read a few blog sites online to keep me aware of what is going on in the world.

Seems today the great debate is rather or not we were all manipulated into feeling joy at Susan Boyle’s moment on Britain’s Got Talent????
And rather or not the USA’s use of torture is a an understandable and forgivable offense.

Many cultural pundits say those who welled up while watching Susan were somehow weak for feeling emotion and shedding tears,...we should know it was a set-up, nothing that good happens in 'real' life......
and political pundits are saying that torture, if done at the right time for the right reason might be ok. Even if it’s not ok there should be no prosecution of the people who set the practice in motion....
that indeed we should look forward, forgive and forget.

For some reason these two topics of the day leave me wondering if indeed we are a culture who look upon people who feel touched by someone living their dream as silly and weak....
but those who torture are doing good for all humanity…
or at least should be forgiven for bad judgment.

I’m sure there are a whole bunch of folks sitting in our prisons who are hoping the being forgiven and moving forward view catches on….but I’m thinking that will only apply if you’re in a position of power and can plead that your crimes are for the good of your nation.

I think we are a nation of people who do follow the law of the land and expect the same from the people who write them,....and I do think we care about one an another and feel fine about expressing our humanity,,,,,but for some reason we aren't loud enough or maybe no one is listening.

If an innocent father of a family is delivered into the hands of error, of passion, or of fanaticism; if the accused has no defense except his own virtue; if the arbiters of his life run no other risk in killing him, than that of making a mistake; if they can kill with impunity by a simple decree; then the public outcry is raised, every man feels he is in danger, one can see that no one's life is in safety in the face of a tribunal set up for watching over the life of the citizens, and all voices in unison demand vengeance.

Voltaire