“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
― George Orwell, 1984

A lot of made up stuff in the world and this country especially. So much untrue stuff it’s hard to keep track. I lost track long ago. The problem is the more digging you do the more lies you unearth. Thick veins of lies. layer upon layer. Small lies, countless in number, like Pismo beach sand. Big lies like boulders the size of garbage trucks.

You can go insane thinking about it.

I like to keep track of my own lies. I’m a writer. Well, a blogger. But I wrote a novel so I guess I can call myself a true born writer. And being one, my stock in trade is lies. If lying is what you do for a living (or, rather, for an avocation) it’s kind of important to know the difference between the facts and the fictions. You might almost say that the talent of a writer, a fiction writer especially, is determining the quality of a lie with all the shades and textures of belief and subterfuge involved. In other words, keeping your lies straight, I mean, catalogued, like a Biologist with his specimens.

And having a lie meter on board wouldn’t hurt, either.

There’s a stone from ancient Rome in the image of a face. Here it is.

The Mouth of Truth (Italian: Bocca della Verità [ˈbokka della veriˈta]) is an ancient Roman marble mask in Rome, Italy, which stands against the left wall of the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church, at the Piazza della Bocca della Verità, the site of the ancient Forum Boarium (the ancient cattle market). According to an enduring medieval legend, it will bite off the hand of any liar who places their hand in its mouth,^[1] or, alternatively, any who utters a lie while their hand is in the mouth.^[2] It still attracts many visitors who insert their hands. Wikipedia

The mouth of truth will catch you in a lie, that’s for damned sure.

You better watch out with that hand. You’re gonna be walking around like Captain Hook let me tell you.

But what if you believed the lie you told?

In that case it’s not a lie. You would not be lying. You are telling a lie, certainly, but convinced of the untruth’s veracity, you can remove your hand unbitten.

The Big Lie

80 Million or more people voted for Donald Trump. I’ve wasted too much of what little time I’ve got left on the planet wondering why these people voted for a man who’ll do nothing for most of them. Who conned them into believing he cares about their interests. I’m not talking Rich People here. I can understand why rich people voted for Donald Trump. One simple reason will suffice. Trump, true to his word, will give Tax Cuts to The Rich. Extend the cuts already in place. Provide more incentives to greedy ass fat cats. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera… I kind of don’t even blame them. Say I was one of those big shot money dudes? I’d be no better than the others. Put me back in my forties with lots and lots of money and facing a mean ass I.R.S. and I’d probably vote for Donald Trump. Leave out all the other nasty shit about the dude. This one fact alone would sway me in Trump’s favor. But I’m not talking Rich People here. I’m talking all the millions and millions of common people. Middle and lower middle class people. Working people. White Working People especially. Lots of them honest people. People who’d reach into the Mouth Of Truth and not worry a damned about losing a hand. Why did these people vote for Donald Trump?

Simple. They believe his lies. Not all of them. The smaller lies–like say, his infidelities–they probably don’t believe those. Nor do they care. They give him a pass on all his effusive nasty untruths. No. What I’m talking about here are the big lies he tells. Those are the ones they believe.

They believe the Good Old U.S.A. is in decline. They believe most wet-backs are rapists. They believe a vast left-wing conspiracy is ruining the country. They believe the Deep State is real and nefarious. They believe the Justice Department is corrupt. (I could almost believe that myself.) They believe Global Warming is a hoax. They believe the 2020 election was rigged. They believe the mainstream media is fake news. They believe Putin is a genius. They believe all the big lies Trump tells. They believe mainly because they are Big Lies! That’s right. Big Lies are more believable than small lies. check out the link if you don’t believe me.

A pyramid of Lies

Big Lies like Crystals grow when molecules that are alike get close to each other and stick together, forming chemical bonds that act like Velcro between atoms. Mineral crystals cannot just start forming spontaneously – they need special conditions and a nucleation site to grow on. wikipedia

The Special conditions necessary for the big lies to stick are found in the Economy. The perceived decline of the Economy. I’m talking Inflation. People thinking they’re not doing so well. I’m not thinking that. I live on nothing and I’m glad. I’m talking these working class white people staying poor working two or three jobs. Busting their asses to make the rent. They’re pissed off and they need somebody to blame. These are the special conditions allowing the lies to thrive. Form patterns. Invade Minds…

And what is the Big Lie Pattern? The big lie pattern is like a pyramid with big lies stacked up to support the biggest lie. The biggest lie says Donald Trump will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

That’s MAGA.

A pile of lies holding up the greatest Lie.

“Our Country is in decline. God chose me to Make America Great Again.” Donald Trump in his inaugural address

So what good is the Mouth Of Truth?

You can’t shove these kind of lies into the Mouth Of Truth.

They won’t fit. They’re too big. They’re monstrous lies. The Mouth Of Truth? Well, that’s no more than a quaint attraction. A toy to unmask small lies. The little one’s. The lies people tell all day long. Lies plentiful enough to re-sand Pismo Beach. Lies so voluminous and varied I’ll lose my mind thinking about them. I can’t think of them. Better to stick with the big lies.

Those I can at least wrap my head around.

A charming Feature of the Big Lie

It only just occurred to me that the big lie has a dual effect. Not only does it dupe simple people into a false sense of belief, identifying a phony problem, assigning Villains, etc., but at the same time it masks the true and very real problems that plague the land and threaten to overwhelm us.

I’ll leave it to my favorite politician tell it like it really is:

And by the way, if you got time to labor through another

Video. Here’s one by a pair of women worth subscribing to.

The I’ve Had It Podcast.