Why do we let our leaders lie to us?

Peter wrote: sleeper wrote: Peter wrote: Syzygy wrote: Communism never succeded largely because it was always imposed as the result either of a violent uprising or following invasion and occupation by a more powerful state - basically, by military force. Why the USA thinks that democracy (more specifically, a consumer capitalist friendly oligarchy) can be successfully imposed by military force is mystifying, and why the British government goes along with this is even more so. Mystifying? Perhaps -- unless they're only there to secure "their" oil supply. (Oh what a cynic am I!)   Just to play devil's advocate here, Syzygy, what about the examples of (West) Germany and Japan? Didn't the US arguably "successfully impose democracy via military force" there? Technically speaking Germany already was a democracy, and what difference did the Americans make to the Japanese administration? Besides, in this case both Japan and Germany attacked the allies in an attempt to expand their empire/reich. Technically, yes -- but not effectively. A huge one -- from miltary rule/monarchy to a constitutional democracy. (Note that I don't support the US/British presence in Iraq on that basis. I believe it's all about oil over there, in any case.) But enough, for me -- I don't usually like to talk politics, etc here.

On this note we agree, and I believe that Germanys democracy was as effective as any other western countries at the time that the Nazi's were voted in, but I doubt it afterwords.

Empathy wrote: the _real_ message of Jesus Christ (if he existed) was a glimmer of hope for humankind. But we all know how THAT story ended.

As Matt Johnson of The The would say:

"If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today,
He'd be gunned down cold by the CIA"

...and just to keep this off-topic digression going for the sake of another one of my favotite The The quotes:

"The lights that burn the brightest behind stained glass,
Will cast the darkest shadows upon the human heart"

Edited by Jim Garten

Andrea Cortese wrote: I like very much western countries! I'm very happy and lucky to live here! I'm very happy and lucky that my country (recently, though) went out of poverty! I disagree with people that always criticize and stigmatize west. I'm proud to be of christian faith and christian tradition. There are not only bad things to point out! As you can see, I go often upstream!  P.S. let point out the positive things! I believe there are lots of positive things in our history, even in our present!

So do I.

But dont fall into 'their' trap. 'They' want you to be philosophical and upbeat about what you do have, preferably to a point where you are unable to see any bad. Being grateful for what you have is not a reason to ignore certain critical things in our society which should be a lot better!!

                                                              UPWARD!

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onward...

Edited by Peter

Peter wrote:                                                               UPWARD!                                                   _                                         _                                  _                    and... onward...

Post of the Year!

Empathy wrote: "My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!" - Kodos

You sure it wasnt Kang?

sleeper wrote: Empathy wrote: "My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!" - Kodos You sure it wasnt Kang?

 

If you're like me and understand this quote, it can only mean one thing... You watch to much TV.

Politicians are only human and they have to put a positive shine on everything to keep their jobs. They don't have all the information and they're always being recorded so sometimes they're bound to say things that are daft. I'm sure I'd say a lot of daft things if I were a politician.

The truth is that people who put any value on honesty will never get to be politicians and they don't want to be either. The funny thing is that given the choice between Bush or Blair telling lies and the Dalai Lama telling the truth, the people will always fall for Bush and Blair. Why oh why or why?  I think it's because people don't mind lying as long as they don't get financially any worse off from it.

Honesty in politics really doesn't pay off. If George Bush said "sorry I made a mistake about hurricane Katrina" or if Blair said "I exagerated the case for Iraq and I'm sorry" then I don't think they'd last very long in office. People expect to be told that everything is OK even when we know that they're not. Anybody who tells things like they really are will be out of office before you can say "Monica Lewinsky".

Edited by Bob Greece

Anybody who tells things like they really are will be out of office before you can say "Monica Lewinsky".

Anybody who tell things as they really are, don´t want to run for office !!!!!!!

Peace Frog wrote: We let our leaders lie to us because the only ones who care that they're lying refuse to vote, and even if they did vote it wouldn't make a difference because we'd still have leaders that would lie to us anyway. There's no escape and we can't do anything about it.

Well, we can always go to the Phillipines and claim one of those million islands, and be the leader there. I would call the land, Progressia! It would always have honest leaders, like me.