The greatest lie ever told

There are different kinds of lies. George Washington never chopped down a cherry tree. It was a lie made-up in the 1800’s to teach children morals. “Father, I cannot tell a lie.” Apparently, the irony was lost on the author. Oh well, in the end it was alright. No, the Earth is not flat… but nobody gets hurt and I think it’s kinda’ funny.

But sometimes it’s not so funny. Joseph Goebbels resurrected a lie concerning blood libel. This goes back to the Middle Ages and says that Jews held ritual killings of Christian children and used their blood in unleavened bread eaten at Passover. Hitler and his lieutenants orchestrated what they called “the Big Lie” and six million Jews died.

There’s cause for concern today. I’m not suggesting another holocaust, I just don’t see it happening. But Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, seems not to understand what he is doing to his own country. The United States and Germany, Israel’s two biggest supporters, both have sizable groups who are now vocal in believing a genocide has taken place in Gaza. 

Netanyahu has opened the worn playbook and pumped money into the problem. Using social media and previously purchased politicians, he seems to believe this is nothing more than another bump in the road to regional dominance. The whole thing comes off as tone deaf and arrogant. And a big lie.

Example: The new Mayor of NYC said he would look into if Bibi could be arrested if he came to New York. Netanyahu responds that he has Special Forces with him and it wouldn’t end well if New York tries. Really? This guy thinks he can kill police officers, have a running gun battle in downtown Manhattan… and then give his stupid little speech at the UN? Did I mention tone deaf and arrogant?

It has gotten so bad in the US that no Democratic politician dare accept any money at all from the main political group (political action committee or PAC) controlled by Israel. No Democrat could be elected dog catcher after accepting that toxic poison. The irony of course is that it’s actually US taxpayer’s cash being used to legally bribe US politicians. Then there’s the little issue of all the wars many Americans now think were fought for Israel.

These lies are no joke, they have gotten people killed. Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump seem not to understand the power of the lies they are telling. Israel is a small country with a small population. They have no natural resources and survive on the good will of others. Playing the genocide card no longer works once you commit your own.

The greatest lie ever told

We’ve all told lies. Some are harmless, some are protective, and some are told with rather less than honourable intentions. We tell small untruths to little children so as not to upset them unduly, and there’s the “white” lies to close friends for much the same reason. Who hasn’t protected themselves with an untruth or two? And don’t get me started on governments, where lying appears to be a prerequisite for power.

But what if the most powerful lies aren’t the ones we’re told as adults, but ones we are taught well before we’re old and mature enough to question them?

You see, I am left wondering whether there is indeed a form of indoctrination that is so deeply entrenched in all societies around our globe, that most don’t even recognise it for what it is. Indoctrination.

Any child born into a religious family will, much more often than not, simply inherit that family’s beliefs well before they have the intellectual tools to examine them. So, a child born in Saudi Arabia is very likely to become Muslim; one born in India, Hindu, and one born in my country of birth, a Christian.

So, here’s a question: If we had been born in a completely different country, would we still  believe what we believe right now?  

More questions: Who told you which god was real? Would your eternal fate depend upon a geographical accident? In other words, would a loving god condemn you simply because you were born into the wrong family, culture, or even century? 

Look, I’m perfectly aware that belief in gods has provided comfort, community, charity, music and art, and indeed hope, to literally billions of folk. Maybe it’s extraordinary not that there is belief in gods, but that us humans have been searching for something beyond ourselves for thousands upon thousands of years.

Perhaps the greatest fabrication isn’t that there is a god. Perhaps an even bigger whopper is that we know, absolutely, which god it is – and that we learned the truth when we were little kids.

Maybe the greatest lie ever told isn’t merely that your god exists. Maybe it’s this: “This is the God you must believe in.”

The greatest lie ever told

I suspect, though not sure, that Roger will do something about religion. Just because I know his position on it. Have no idea on Dean’s blog, though.

I might do the same as Roger, but, in a different way. 

I mean, Communism. The biggest lie ever told, by Russia. 

In Russia in 1917 and later, Communism simply replaced religion, mostly Christian Orthodoxy. The Russian people’s archetype is very close to both: a collectivistic dreamland. So, this is why it laid down well, in the beginning. 

So, in 1918, the Bolsheviks struck an awful peace deal with Germans, selling them off half of European Russia and relocating the capital from St. Petersburg to Moscow in return for staying in power. Instead, they put several ideas that let them buy the people’s hearts. For a while, though. 

First, Peace to the people! Meaning, the war is over and no more. 

Second, Land to the peasants! Meaning, that they would become land owners. 

This let them get the people’s loyalty in the beginning. Enough to stay in power and not be wiped out immediately. 

Well, ‘Peace to the peoples’ finished in a catastrophic Civil War that led to 13 million dead, including hunger and disease. There was no peace as more than half of the population didn’t support the Communists. Yet, it took time for those fooled to get that they had indeed been fooled. 

‘Land to peasants’ lead to the land’s expropriation, the so-called military Communism and a number of peasant’s uprisings and riots all over Russia in 1920-21. Again, too late. All the riots were cruelly crushed. 

Maybe, there are bigger lies in the history of humanity, but I don’t see a bigger one in Russia’s history.