Lies and Truthiness

 "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" I know, I know, that old saw provokes all kinds of controversy, about what exactly is “sound”, and does it exist in the absence of humans with ears.  Those thoughts prompted me to write a blurb about humans, including me. In one posting, I wrote:

“I perceive, therefore . . .

I stood outside on our porch one morning, just the other day. I often come out early, as the sun is rising, just to look. As I stood there, I began thinking; someday this will all be gone. I will no longer stand here looking out at the sky and the trees, and the houses with their residents just beginning to awaken. It will all be gone.
Then I corrected myself.
No, one day, it will remain, and only the image in my brain will be gone. But if there is no image in my brain, does it actually exist, this thing I now see? It’s the old, “if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it, does the tree actually fall? Perhaps, if I am no longer here, then nothing exists.”

 Even some of our scientists can be found discussing whether our reality, even our entire universe depends on humans observing it.  If there are no humans, does our universe actually exist? Some wag even suggested that maybe we are simply characters in some video game being played currently by super extraterrestrials. 

 Now, to be fair, when I find myself listening to the likes of QAnon supporters, or even just any republican, I begin to think the video game thing may not be so farfetched after all. I mean, how else can you explain rationally the actions and beliefs of people who worship Donald Trump, and who believe in the “stolen election” conspiracy? Really people? You actually believe Donald Trump when he explains that he actually won the election, but that hordes of Democrats who are actually dead, voted in that last election. And that more people “voted” than there are voters. Amazing. But the CPAC convention clearly demonstrated that people who identify as “republican”, or actually Trumpies (cuz the republican party is now officially dead) no longer mind being lied to. They believe whatever they are told by whoever takes the platform.

 We always used to say that Reagan made it ok again to be a racist.  And that was bad, letting all those racists out of their respective closets. But apparently Donald Trump has made it ok again to lie about anything and everything. Well, I say “again”, but really it was never ok to simply lie outright, the way Trump does.  But now, apparently there is no such thing as Truth, or even “Facts” any longer amongst Trumpies. Yeah, CPAC was a lie machine collective.  When we listened to Trump and Cruz and Greene, and Hawley spout their lies, I was really aghast at the blatant nature of their lies. Nobody even pretends any longer.

But then I stumbled across this new dude from North Carolina, Madison Cawthorn. David Madison Cawthorn (born August 1, 1995) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, Cawthorn is the U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 11th congressional district after winning the 2020 election. Cawthorn is like some new kind of Lie Machine. He seems to lie about everything.  He was in an accident, sitting as a passenger in a friend’s car.  The “friend” apparently fell asleep while driving.  Cawthorn claims that his friend left him to die in the flaming wreck of the car.  In fact the friend rescued him and then got help to take his “friend” to the hospital.  He claims he was accepted by the Naval Academy, but he was in fact rejected for admission, prior to his accident. He dropped out of college, receiving D grades. He either does or does not accept the lies about Trump actually winning the election, but he seems definitely to be a Trumpie. Generally, he has no experience at anything, except lying. And maybe that’s what got him elected into Congress. A less likely member of Congress it would be hard to find.

But, as I say, he was actually elected to Congress. But why . . . how could that be true?  I assume that now, our electorate insists that someone develop a finely honed instinct at lying.  If you really know how to sling those lies, and don’t care whether folks discover your lying, then you are a perfect candidate for the republican party. And, more importantly, voters on that side of the planet, will elect you.  

Apparently, truth-telling is a total No-No.  Now the game is, you say whatever you think will gain you points with the audience of the moment. It doesn’t matter whether the lies you tell are clever, or downright stupid. Nope, all that matters is that whatever you tell people will gain you some brownie points at that moment.  Cuz your audience will forget that you told them lies that last time, so long as the lies you are telling them this time please them, or make you seem good, or clever. That’s all that matters.

So, what do you think? Could we not all just be characters in some clever ET dude’s video game? So, life here on Earth will continue, or not, depending on how long it takes the ET dudes to tire of playing with us.  And you’re thinking, “No, that can’t be. Life has been here on earth for millions of years, or at least 6,000, depending on who you ask.  No one could play a video game that long.” But then maybe that “millions of years” thing is just something implanted by those ET dudes to make you believe. Who knows, maybe we’re really only a couple of hours old.

So, dream on all you believers. But remember, Truth and Facts are for sissies. All the true believers know that lies and make-believe are where it’s at in today’s fairy tale land of Wink and Nod. Oh, and remember, QAnon is inaugurating Donald Trump as President today. So, get your ass down to Capitol Hill in DC. That’s where today’s action will commence.