White Man Speak with Forked Tongue
The United States has long prided itself on being a guiding light and the bastion of democracy in an ever-hostile and tyrannical world. The founding fathers conceived of a government “…by the people and for the people” with “…freedom and justice for all.” Wonderful words and beautiful thoughts, but are they still applicable in a changing world in which it is sometimes felt that a circling of the wagons and a ducking of heads behind Fort America is the best course of action. Should a government’s leaders, indeed, provide full disclosure of facts to the public, when, in fact, such “coming clean” might compromise a country’s defense, a population’s safety, a nation’s intelligence services, industry, infrastructure, and agriculture, not to mention popular opinion and faith in one’s political leadership? This is a question that has either dominated or occupied the wings of the U.S. stage since its inception, over 200 years ago. The U.S. continues to wrestle with the issue, in the face of world terrorism, a burgeoning China and a loss of manufacturing jobs to that juggernaut that continues unabated, disillusionment on the home front due to a failing economy and rampant unemployment, and a higher education system floated on false hopes and staggering student loans.
Yes, the world has become extremely complicated, but Americans like to think that certain unalienable rights, principles, and doctrines remain immutable in the face of cultural, technological, religious, social, and moral upheaval. The “holier than thou” attitude cultivated by America and Americans is perhaps based on a myth and on the hope that things really aren’t as bad as they appear. After all, this is America, the “…land of the free and the home of the brave,” as well as of Ma’s apple pie. Those terrible things that happen in other countries couldn’t possibly occur on home soil. After all, U.S. politicians and leaders come from the same stock as the populace, and they would never lie to the people. Little white lies, perhaps, but never those black “ops,” shady dealings, and dark innuendos that threaten to shake the foundations of democracy and the moral backbone of the American people. Think again! Further fresh revelations on the John F. Kennedy assassination, which occurred almost 50 years ago, are, in fact, just coming to light today, and that is just the tip of the iceberg; lest we forget the mysterious circumstances surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the Oklahoma City bombing, the “9-11” terrorist attack on New York’s World Trade Center, and the rush to judgment and rush to action in the first and second Gulf Wars.
Psychiatrists and psychologists tell us that lying is socially expedient. Many feel that we are all natural-born liars, and that an innocuous fib or a “little white lie” here and there not only helps our day-to-day conversations flow more smoothly, but keeps them from stalling, sputtering along, or just plain boring our listeners. It has been estimated that in an average 10-minute conversation with a stranger or a new acquaintance, approximately 60 percent of us lie three or more times. Men and women are equally prone to stretch the truth, with the former fibbing to make themselves look better, and the latter to make another person feel good. Lies, for better or worse, just slip out of us, and we simply don’t realize how dishonest we are until we make a conscious effort to analyze our motives or stop.
On a grand and national scale, there is a growing suspicion and permeating mentality among scientists, political thinkers, philosophers, religious leaders, and the citizenry that the U.S. Government is “holding back,” so to speak, from the general public. National defense concerns are often quoted as justified or unjustified motives for reticence on the part of those who have taken a solemn oath to protect the U.S. Constitution, while at the same time giving the people what they want and not pulling the wool over their eyes. The price tag of the subterfuge involved in cover-ups and national defense excuses is not only backbreaking and heartbreaking, however, but also bank-breaking, as countless years, dollars, and human productive capacity is wasted, trying to unravel mysteries as diverse as Area 51, the Roswell landing, the Watergate debacle, and any number of other national concerns, past and present, that drain precious resources better devoted to finding solutions to problems that threaten to severely damage any legacy left to American children. Wouldn’t time, money, and manpower be better spent finding solutions to the energy problem, the continuing destruction of the environment, and the growing religious and social intolerance between peoples of different race, creed, and national origins?
If the answer to the question of whether U.S. and world politicians and leaders should come clean in all cases is to be in the affirmative and free of all shades of gray, then not only the U.S., but also her partners and enemies, must band together to create a kinder, gentler world. It has often been said that, “The truth will set you free,” and nowhere is this more true than on the political scene. So, if you ask me in no uncertain terms whether U.S. and world leaders can and should always tell the truth to their people, my answer is a resounding “Yes!” Not only will the truth free up monies better used to solve far more pressing national and world problems, but a spirit of trust among the people of a single nation and between peoples of diverse nations will go far to increasing the cost-effectiveness of those remedial measures; in other words, our money will go farther, if we spend more on solving the problems themselves, rather than putting accompanying safeguards in place to protect the actions and measures we deem necessary. While national borders and the idea of countries themselves may be fading away, as technology breaches territorial beachheads, no one would argue that truth, and nothing but the truth, from the mouths of political leaders would go far to making the process as painless and productive as possible. Not only is the pen, but also the “un-forked” tongue, mightier than the sword!
© 2010, Albert M. Balesh, M.D. All rights reserved.
posted by Dr. Al at
12/05/2010 12:10:00 PM
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