The Lie has a powerful hold on the human psyche. Right wing pundits and Conservative Republicans seem to prefer it to the truth. Only a child whose morality is not yet tainted by the human embrace of the lie and its fear of truth can say loud enough to be heard that the king wears no clothes. And many adults will repeatedly admonish that child to be quiet until the child understands that he or she is not entitled to tell the truth simply because he or she observes it and knows it.
When GOP conservatives and right wing political pundits and media icons speak an outrageous and obvious lie about President Barack Obama as if it were true, none in that group are embarrassed by it. Nor will any attempt to refute it.
Members of repressive groups refuse to reject out loud what is patently false. They may whisper it to a confidant, but not before looking around to make sure no else can hear--unless their intent is to be rude. And if rudeness is the intent, refuting the truth serves us much better than refuting the lie.
Most of us want to avoid public declaration of uncomfortable truths in group to which we belong that are opposed to that truth. More importantly, too many of us seem to prefer the lie to the truth. Rush Limbaugh's minions are testament to that.
Some unchallenged lies are so blatantly false, one wonders if the human preference for the lie is the major flaw in the psychological design of our species and an insurmountable barrier to the survival of our species. Questions about the validity and reality of truth that support ordinary people, who make up more than 99% of our species, are always brought into question by the forces whose agenda is to perpetuate the will of the super wealthy and the politically powerful and in some scenarios to perpetuate the will of evil.
Few dare to question the lie in the presence of repressive peer pressure for fear of being vilified and ostracized. Evil strikes back when it is exposed, but the truth has no force beyond its intrinsic self.
Truth, unlike the lie, has no ugly head to raise in order to give an aura of power on the face of those who speak it and to strike terror in the minds of those who hear it. Truth does not rebel in anger and vengeance when it is exposed. Truth has no fear of exposure or challenge.
The lie, however, is a ubiquitous masquerader. It masquerades first as your friend. Then falsely and glamorously dressed up as that which it despises--the truth--you soon become its trusted servant. Eventually, seduced by its deceit and false promises, you become its jubilant and compliant slave, celebrating the lie and all its false glory.
And America is all the worse for what and who you believe--lies and liars whose only goal is to divide and conquer so that the 99% is its poorer and needy servants who will bend to their will because they have no choice or effectively see no other choice.