Choosing Truth or Lies
- Article Published At:
- Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
- Date of Publication:
- May 29th, 2021
One of the dark accomplishments of the last five years has been the normalization of webs of lies in society. The critical value of the truth has faded as the lying has grown. The Fact Checker web site lists over 30,000 false or misleading claims made by the past-president during his four years in office. Of course politicians have long misrepresented the truth to justify their political agendas and please their financial sponsors – but never on this scale. Even after he was defeated in the recent election, Trump and his supporters have continued to spread evil webs of lies. Some rationalize that living in a free country means they are free to lie.
Finally the Big Lie arrived, the opposite of the truth that Trump lost the election by a large margin. The bizarre aspect is he appears unaware that this term was coined by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf (1925) to describe the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." Trump loves big lies, so this fits him very well. He can pretend to believe in his personal Big Lie that he won the election, even though he lost, because the neo-fascist media will support him. Then I realized he chose Hitler as his hero because he admires dictators so much more than democracy. History will remember him both as a confused Hitler and a pathetic lying loser.
What is unbelievably shameful is that the Republican Party has abandoned democracy and the U.S. Constitution and joined him to follow Hitler as the party of the Big Lie. Even worse they have dreamed up a new approach. Across the nation, many states are using lies about election integrity to pass bills that restrict voting by citizens, whom they fear might vote for Democrats. Their hope is that by controlling who votes, they can achieve the fascist dream of a Republican dictatorship.
The web-sites of lies about COVID-19 and the vaccines for it are another disaster for America. Trump was responsible for the deaths of a quarter of a million or more people from COVID by lying about its severity, and the need for testing and protective strategies like wearing masks. Now in a continuing fantasy world, web-sites run by mostly Trumpian supporters are lying about the vaccines and encouraging others not to be immunized. How this will improve Trump’s self-image is unclear, but it will prevent the country from recovering quickly from COVID. It seems a gross perversion that if he cannot be president and kill people by his lying and negligence, then he can still kill them through the lies of supporters. Yet it is his own supporters trapped in their own lying web that will collectively suffer most from ongoing COVID infections. Perhaps this is a perverse form of retribution to make governing more difficult for the Biden administration, which they perceive as illegitimate. It is likely that there is also some fiendish input from the dark web by those delighted to weaken the U.S.
So take a deep breath and let us step into the real living world – as it is still almost spring, although mid-May seemed like summer. The direct teaching of the indigenous Aramaic leader Yeshua (known to us as Jesus) was crystal clear: “Step with me into the living world of the Creation and ye shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free”. For our society today this is a real vivid choice. We must either accept the Truth that sets us free, or the evil webs of lies that trap us in a sick and desperate effort to destroy American democracy.
So plant your spring and summer vegetables and watch the living truth grow in the sunshine and warm your heart. This year, we again overwintered spinach and lettuce in cold frames and have been eating head lettuce for a month now, while the crop of spinach was simply huge. The winter climate has warmed a lot over the last ten years (as the Arctic is melting), which means even the broccoli planted in April will soon be ready for harvesting. I chuckle because the warming Earth is ignoring the 139 politicians that have been bribed by the Fossil Empire to lie, and deny climate change. While these politicians choke on their evil webs of lies, every head of broccoli and lettuce that we grow is a reminder the Truth is free, and tastes so good.
Still, many find it hard to face both truth and freedom, so the way forward for America might seem fuzzy. Fortunately the Earth backs the Truth every time, and humanity has so little power unless we back the Earth. When we harvest our Brussel sprouts and winter squash in the fall, I believe the Earth will be smiling as well as a little warmer.