About Good Propaganda

Post 372:

            Deception is a big aspect of life. Deception is sort of a nasty sounding word, though, so I’ll choose something different… How about lies? Fibs? Tales? We’re getting closer… oh yeah: Stories.

            We’re lied to pretty much all day, every day. And it’s not just by others. We do it to ourselves and the world around us. Let’s go through a small run-of-the-mill scenario. You wake up and tell yourself you want to go to work.

            Story. Whopper. Tall Tale.

            You turn on some music while you get yourself fixed up for the day. Two things, here. Your hair doesn’t fall that way on its own, and those song lyrics are way exaggerated.

            Narratives. Yarns.

            At work, people ask how you’re doing. You say “good” and you ask back, even though you probably don’t care.

            Chalk ‘em up. Two more truth manipulations. Fables.

            There’s your significant other. We know how this goes. Full disclosure really isn’t an option. You can tell yourself your relationship is special and nothing’s being held back or contorted, but there again—you see what I’m saying.

            Versions. Perversions. (Not those kind of perversions)

            Maybe all honesty all the time is the way to go. It probably is in a lot of cases, especially with ourselves. I know that I could be a lot healthier if I wasn’t such a creative storyteller. The story is called: Someone is shrinking your pants.

            I like a good novel. If the writer is full of crap, you can tell within a few pages. By full of crap, I mean he’s a liar that’s convinced his little story can somehow be compared to The Stone Tablets. A good novel knows it’s a novel, knows its limits, and lets you decide whether or not you’d like to indulge. No coercion. Not a lot of smoke and mirrors. No special effects (lies) to get transfixed on.

            Point is, we can’t avoid propaganda. But we can manage it. In that way, it’s like my next door neighbor Eric. I tell myself he’s not going to come over and ask “what’s up” on a regular basis, but let’s be honest—I’m just lying to myself.

            That was like a double word score thingy I did there. I’m walking off on that one. See you after.