Stole this posting of John's from RunningOnEmpty@egroups.com

I liked it, thought the rest of you might.

Message: 5 Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 05:00:42 -0700 (PDT) From: John Weber Subject: Baiting the Lion

Is Honesty Aways the Best Policy? Taken seriously and literally Honesty is the best policy is a grave danger to civilization. As a platitude its value lies in its inherent deceit. There are numerous, multilayered reasons that unbridled honesty poses a threat to humanity. George says, I cannot tell a lie, I chopped down the cherry tree. How blase, uncreative. Does this answer challenge the mental capabilities of young George? Mediocrity is already rife among our young. We need to challenge them to creative thinking, to think quickly on their feet. Dad, there were ten of >them, masked and chanting Urbanize or die. Dad, I was thinking of you and how cherries have you sitting for days in the outhouse. These are the kinds of responses we need to promote in our young. Deceit develops emotions and agility of mind. It promotes the abstract thinking of role playing. Great sobs of loss for the cherished tree. Wrath of indignation at someone elses destructive behavior. Cringing fear at a blight of tree killers. So many possibilities for creative behavior. Georges dad should have whomped George up side the head for such mental laziness. Deceit surrounds me everywhere. Deceit is natural and nature survives by deceit: the fish with a fake eye on the back of its fin so it loses a tail, not a head; the possum playing dead; the low status chimp hiding its erect penis >from the dominant male while showing the interested female. The small male spider brings a meal for the female so he can mate quickly and not be a meal himself. Nature uses colors and smells to lure and deceive for food (power) or sex. The cosmetic industry makes billions each year. Examples of subterfuge in nature are legion. Humans have their natural deceits and add a whole new dimension to the honorable game. This new dimension is self deceit; mistakenly dubbed defense mechanisms. They should be called infence mechanisms because they keep us from knowing the honest truth about ourselves. The classic is denial: I come from a normal family; My wife would never cheat on me; I dont care that I didnt win. There is projection where the irate person says smilingly, You seem to be mad today, John, claiming for me what is their own feeling. There is reaction formation. This entails the indignant, self-righteous behavior that hides the closet homosexual or sex addict or gambler. There is repression, displacement, intellectualization, dissociation, and passive aggression. Nature is so partial to deceit that we have evolved a repertoire of self deceits unknown to less fortunate species. There are an infinite number of conscious, run-of-the-mill deceits dictated by the needs of the moment. They make life bearable and in some cases survivable. No, honey, I dont think you have gained weight. Yes, sir thats one of the >best ideas Ive heard in a long time. Rural Minnesota would be poorly populated without the wonderful phrase, Of course Ill love you in the morning. There are cultural deceits. We know the sexual behavior of men in prison. What do we think those cowboys and miners who won the west did in their spare time? We elect, hire and appoint role models of deceit: Nixon, Oliver North, Clarence Thomas. People are paid top dollar to convince us we need the unnecessary. We even have one of the gods telling a father to sacrifice his son then at the last moment saying, Just kidding, that was a test. This leads to what I call Grand Civilizing Fictions. Men are superior to women is classic. If men really understood the true difference in health, strength (no man walks around with a 30 pound baby in one arm, a toddler on one leg while running a household), sexuality, or wisdom the company making Prozac would rule the world. There are the permissive frauds that humans are superior to all animals and beyond natural laws. What other animals work as hard as humans? And as for being above nature our waste has to go somewhere. Among Grand Civilizing Fictions are these examples. Your home has just been destroyed by a tornado. It is the will of >god. Right. Another is exploiters of any kind may be rich and sated but they are going to hell. Hummmmm. We deceive for power and sex. What else is there? We either have it, want it or fear it. Deception is written into our genes, our personal lives and our cultural codes. Honesty is the best policy only if you can get away with it. John

-- Anonymous, May 29, 2000