Where everyone cries "Wolf"!
The question why
human beings, and not any other species, has been a hot topic for debate for a
very long time. Fire, the opposable thumb, the large brain and god have all
been given credit for man’s advancement, though it is widely agreed that the
ability to create and believe in fiction did the trick for him. In a nutshell,
every institution or instrument of value today- be it the concept of money or
the bank constituted by shareholders and board members that controls its
supply, and the structure and culture that defines that organisation, and the
country which is the home to the establishment, are all figments of our
imagination. They are there because there is a collective imagination at play here
wherein all the people in the world believe it is true. And since this
collective imagination has become the manual for day to day existence, anyone
who can create new fiction or alter the already existing one even slightly can
reap benefits for himself. This is the reason why we lie: A simple survival
instinct.
Lying is treated
as malicious, irrespective of the yardstick or perspective. Religions
outrightly denounce lying. One of the ten commands is against lying and
perjury. All Abrahamic religions condemn lying, and the holy books are flooded
with tales of liars punished or smitten by god. In ethics and philosophy, lying
is considered abhorrent and avoidable since it results in breach of trust.
Folklore from around the world warn about the dangers of a lie. Remember the
boy who cried wolf? The one who realised the power of the lie but was not smart
enough to use it wisely. The story of his tragic end is still one of the
lessons every kid gets from their parent as a child. Modern value education
also focuses on truth as an essential virtue. In fact, from the society’s
perspective, a lie can do tremendous damage to it. We can see how lies about
jews has turned an entire nation against them during the world war II,
resulting in the holocaust wiping out almost half of the jewish population from
the face of the earth. A quote often attributed to the German Propaganda
minister of the time reads “Repeat a lie a thousand times, and it becomes the
truth.”
Children below
the age of four think that there is only one universal truth which is the same
as their own view on something. By the time they are four and a half, they
develop a quality known as Machiavellian intelligence, when they become capable
of lying in a convincing manner. As he grows up, he is taught to use this
technique to survive in the world. He learns that the more convincingly a
person lies, the better is his chances to manipulate his immediate environment.
The most manipulative are usually the most powerful in the society. A common
example of this phenomenon is the politician who garners popular support by
making impractical promises. But looking at it objectively, is he not just
using a common human trait artfully to gain competitive advantage? Zoologists
have observed that the same psyche works in the animal kingdom too. Chimpanzees
feign care towards the babies of other chimp mothers, and hug members of his
clan to gradually lead and dominate over this others. Messiahs and godmen
throughout history has claimed that they hear divine voices or possess magical
powers to invoke fear and belief among disciples. The art of lying has always
been used as an ability like physical strength or intellect, the only
difference is that potential of the former is highly underestimated, and even
if estimated correctly, rarely accepted.
Inability to lie
is not a weakness. But ability to lie can definitely be a strength. Let us have
a look at the tactful deceivers of mythology. The Mahabharata has various
instances when Krishna used his wits to deceive the Kauravas, inorder to
achieve victory against evil. Also, Yudhishtir who never lies, tells his
teacher Drona a lie to have him killed. The Trojan horse was a big con trick.
Zeus becomes the lord of Olympia because his mother deceives her husband. Similarly,
in history, wars have been won because of the capacity of one of the parties to
employ lies to gain advantage. Sun Tzu, in the ‘Art of War’ speaks at
length about how deception can be ones greatest asset. Governments use them to
retain power. Nations use them to further their economic or military agenda.
Remember the winds that led upto the Kuwait war or the Iraq invasion? Or how
stories emerged about the brutality of dictators in North Africa and the Arab
world, when Muammar Gadhafi, the supremo of the largest oil producing country
in Africa demanded gold backed dinars for oil (even the idea can severely
damage the dollar!!)?
Even the big
businesses, the empires of the modern era use the same methods to stay
relevant. The difference here is that they do not simply make a false claim in
public domain. Instead they repeat something that is not necessarily true many
times without actually making those claims, until the public psyche begins to
accept it as true. Thus the child who drinks bournvita grows strong and
intelligent. And the uniform of Santa Claus bears uncanny resemblance to the coco
cola emblem. It’s the same Goebellsian lie. And then the biggest lie of them
all. We trust figures blindly before buying a car or purchasing land. We go
through the database provided by financial companies about how we can be
millionaires by the next Christmas if we give them our money. The biggest lie
today is the numbers we see around us. Thus the saying goes, “Lies, damn lies,
and then there is statistics”.
The ministry of
truth, which Orwell talks about in “1984” is right here, right now. In fact, it
always was. We had been fed lies ever since the day we have we believed the
apple-newton story. Religion maybe collective lying. Literature is creative
lying. And this is why it is better to be a skeptic than a believer of hearsay.
The one who questions can shield himself from some of these deceptions. While
we sit on a pile of lies, the best course of action is to debate whatever we
hear, or whatever we see. Secondly he who is ready to accept that he could be
wrong may find truth somewhere in his journey. All the dogmas we believe in,
all the ideas and facts may be utter lies. If it is already proved that half of
everything we used to believe in was wrong, what guarantee is there about the
other half. And also be more accepting to differing ideas or alternate facts.
Because it is alright to be wrong. Because who can tell truth from lie when
everybody cries “wolf”!!
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