Articles

Falsehood is a Plantation

By Mark Antony Rossi

Lies are usually not believed as much as simply accepted by those who fall into these three categories:

  1. It’s what they want to hear
  2. Too lazy to verify the facts
  3. Can be sold about anything

This allows falsehood to morph into a metaphorical plantation seducing its occupants by claiming fair treatment.    Yet once you believe the lie you voluntarily trade your freedom for a virtual indentured servitude.

You are no longer in complete control. Control belongs to the liar who has sold this deception to the above three types of susceptible people. And control belongs to those who wisely immunize themselves with fully informed consent.

I don’t point out the deceived for ridicule but for sympathy —very often they have other challenges in their lives and in essence make themselves targets for the unkind manipulators trolling society.

I counsel senior citizens not to give out their personal information over the phone. I remind anyone not to hit links giving away your password to supposedly trusted institutions like your bank, electric power, phone company, public library.

Chances are high this email is not from a legitimate source. Erase it. If you are really concerned about possible security problems call the public contact number from the phone book. And find out straight from their customer service department.

Lies are not always negative things if done for self defense or to protect the privacy of loved ones. But the lies of deception or even worse self-deception are malicious machinations of a culture constantly inventing new methods to evade responsibility.

The onus for accountability belongs to the individual in a free society, however; there cannot be more emphasis on insuring government and business do not use their considerable powers to counter basic ethical expectations. People take cues, albeit, some unconscious, from celebrities, statesmen, tycoons with the mistaken belief that group action gives license to self righteous aberrant behavior which strangely leads to a kaleidoscope of lies. The same falsehoods that form a plantation. A prison unlike any other prison because you built it by believing the lie.

About the Author: Mark Antony Rossi is a poet, playwright and author of the bioethics volume “Dark Tech” now available from Amazon. His most recent plays have been produced in Liverpool and New York.

http://ethical-stranger.webnode.com/ 

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3 Comments

  1. Yepper… Dr. Pepper! That pretty much reinforces my beliefs of finding what a person’s true motivations are. Liked it a lot!

  2. Dallas D'Angelo-Gary

    It seems a conundrum that something written about lies would have the ring of truth to it, but there you have it. Very interesting, Mark!

  3. Thank you for the commentary.