life is not a true or false questionaire

It wouldn't be a proper family renuinon unless at some point, preferably after everyone's got at least a couple drinks in them, someone brings up politics. Of course, in my family this is less an argument over which party is in the right, as much all around laughter at how little any of actually believes in the system and the lies it continues to spew forth on a daily basis. After reading the article this morning on the biological attack on the proteters in DC last week, and hearing that it was extensively covered in other media I began to wonder, does it really matter if it's true?

To some degree, yes, the idea of our government being so low as to poison its own population is horrendous, and needs to be addressed, but even more horrendous is that regardless of whether it's true or not, the possibility that they very well could is utterly believable. What makes something true anyway? These days, that seems to rely less on whether a particular event did or did not happen and more on how widespread the belief of its possibility is. Shortly after the Katrina debacle, on reading in multiple sources that Bush staged photo-ops of rebuilding levees and soup kitchens only to have them torn down when he left, I tried telling this to a number of people, only to find utter shock and disbelief that any human being could be so callous. What do you believe? Even if it's not true, could rumors alone impeach a man or mark him up as one of the most heinous war criminals of all time?

Truth is a sketchy issue, and one that's fascinated me for some time, becuase no matter where or how far you look for it, it's not there. At least by any objective standards of validification. Certainly you could toss out hassan i-sabah's old bromide that "nothing is true, everything is permitted," or, as Siga pointed out earlier, "truth comes from within" and we alone can determine what we believe, but even then it comes down to value judgements and a defined sense of morality than cold hard facts.

Let's face it, the media lies to us, and not just the corporate sponsered newscasts. About nine tenths (or more) of everything we read or hear is shadings of truth, spin and counter spin of events aimed at getting across certain ideas and agendas till our heads are dizzy and we fall down under the hubris of inaccurate information. In one might be the greatest conspircy of them all, the "Illuminatus" trilogy (which is itself only one book full of misinformation), Robert Anton Wilson coins the term fnord, which is the almost audible sound of the full truth not being disclosed. Open up the newspaper and read any article with a critical and detached frame of mind. You can almost visibally see the gaps in logic and will to suspend disbelief that lie embedded in the slick writing. Just what is not being said? And how are we to believe any of it?

Inspired by Alfred Korzybski's general semantics and assertion that "the map is not the territory" (nor really an actuall map itself but just a word), R. A. Wilson eventually formed the idea of Maybe Logic, which "consists of never regarding any model or map of Universe with total 100% belief or total 100% denial." Not looking for concrete validity but for the suggestion of possibility, including the possibility to disregard one's own standards for validity.

Take your deepest held beliefs. The one's you never question and live your every moment as if reality depended on. Ask yourself, why do I believe this? (and don't answer "because it's true"). Dig into the roots of the issue, morals, upbringing, social mores or lack thereof. Here's one that used to haunt me (and is a rather minor issue when it comes down to it), vegetarianism. I used to be vegan, now I occasionally eat meat. Do I care about animals any less, did I suddenly decide that my reasons for not consuming them were fallacious? No. The more I looked at why I was doing it, the more I realized the whole issue was far more complex, far more gray than my individual actions alone would ever be able to address. I still refuse factory farmed animals, I still (and even more so than ever) am conscious of how my actions affect other living beings, but I realized that the basis for that black/white decision was based more on what I should do in toto than taking any given situation for what it was and acting accordingly. I still listen to records and ride a bike, and vulcanization requires bone marrow. There's the possibility that sometimes you can not fight every battle. There's also the possibility that we create rules and guidelines for ourselves that are just as stringent and confining as any law created by impersonal governmental polocies. And the best way to not get caught in rules (or stagnant beliefs) is to occasionaly break them. Out with the cop in the head, and all that. If you haven't already made up your mind it's never too late to change your opinion.

Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh yeah. Don't believe everything you read. But don't disbelieve it either. Entertain the possibility that it's possible the US government released bioweapons on its citizens or that it's all a big conspiracy. And then laugh and go to bed and make sure to watch your health. Sweet dreams and don't let the tulerimia bite.