We are the masters of deception; we deceive ourselves, we deceive others, we build lies of varying degrees from white to, well, to be honest I've never learned the other color levels of lies...I guess "red" should be the worst level of lie. At this time of year, the winter holidays as I write this, it seems we lie even more; we lie about our plans, our purchases, our traditions. Yes, I'm not dense, I know why we do it, that does not mean it is not a lie, or bearing false witness, to use a popular religious term. Let me say I am a religious, faith-filled believer in the teachings of Jesus Christ, taught from a young age and having continued my religious education ever since, and it continues and hopefully always will, but I am also an intelligent person with a scientific mind that accepts empirical archeological, biological, astronomical, and historical evidence to know that organized religion is the product of humanity. See, told you we lie to ourselves. Is that the "red" lie? Is that the worst lie we tell ourselves? I am continuously torn; I believe in the God of my father, my grandmother, my great-grandfather and beyond, but I also know that the Gods of the Egyptians did not exist, there was no Inubus or Ra...I know Zeus did not exist, neither did Jupiter, Hera, Neptune, Odin, or any of those "pagan" Gods...see the problem, continuously torn between faith and logic, religion and science.
A wise man recently told me, "I don't need the Bible to tell me not to kill my neighbor," actually I'm paraphrasing the conversation, so in essence I deceived with my use of quotes, in this Digital Age the use of quotes is another deception, another lie we use, we tell ourselves and we proliferate with our social media posts, tweets, comments, likes and shares. I've long pushed, via my own social media presence, for researching quotes before sharing, but that is another blog post. Our focus is on the Master Deceiver, a term used for Lucifer, or Satan...the Devil, but if we accept all the facts of our history, and if we have intelligence we must, then isn't the Devil us?
Hold up, you say, dear reader, fellow traveller....first you tell us we all lie, then you claim to be religious and a believer, then you contradict that with science, you criticize our sharing incorrect quotes, then accuse us of being Satan? Well, yes.
We create discord. We deceive others. We deceive ourselves. We deceive to gain. We deceive to achieve. We are the Masters of Deception. We are The Beast. From the first hominid that killed it's neighbor to have it's mate, it's possessions, we became The Beast. We continue in this tradition today. Wrong, you scream, I am civilized, I own a Bentley, I have an iPhone and Rolex or I have a BMW, an iPad and I don't know another fancy watch company name at the moment. Every human being is only 24 hours or so away from the snarling, sister raping, jungle beasts from which we sprang with the proper, or rather improper, harsh treatment and circumstances; take everything away from someone, ruin the entire life, strip them bare to the bones, then see the true face of humanity. Pretty dark stuff for Christmas Eve Eve, huh? Welcome to the jungle, baby.
The recent headlines about A&E network celebrity Phil Robertson, the inventor, former stand-out college football player, and genius behind Duck Commander, his highly successful duck call business, who made comments to GQ magazine, comments that enraged members of the black community and the LGBT community, are part of why i started this blog entry. Now, I must point out that not everyone that is black or gay was upset, however the leading lobbying groups with the loudest voices complained to A&E, which quickly announced that Phil would be taken off the air for an indeterminate period of time. The fans of Phil's family's "reality" show, Duck Dynasty, took to the Digital Age version of the town square, social media; petitions were begun, support groups were formed, thousands upon thousands have rallies behind him and his beliefs. But what if it is all deception? What if A&E knew about Phil's tendency to spew his version of Christianity, to be very vocal about his prejudice against those unlike himself? It seems most fans of the show agree the network knew how Phil Robertson felt about his faith and his beliefs. Now, a fan of the show would try to attack me and say "Phil ain't prejudiced," but as I understand the definition, judging someone based on one or two observations, interactions, or just based on a learned education at home or in their community which leads to opinions about an entire race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender, political affiliation or a myriad of other divisions we create to separate ourselves from some but align ourselves with others. Am I right? Then if so, Big Phil Robertson claiming blacks in the South in pre-Civil Rights time were happier, that all homosexuals are going to hell along with drunks, adulterers, and others on list he pulled from First Corinthians, is prejudiced, wrong and really not as intelligent as he claims. Just because he has a college degree (big deal...a four-year degree is impressive, but have you seem what his degree was in? Google it yourself) does not make him, or anyone intelligent. Let's begin by firstly saying the King James Version of The Holy Bible was translated in 1602, and a pretty inaccurate translation of the original text. Secondly the First Letter to the Corinthians was a letter by Paul to the people if Corinth, explaining that since they had went Christian, Paul had been hearing some rough stories of un-Christ like behavior going on, hence the list. A more accurate translation of the passage makes no reference to homosexuality but rather the practice in Corinth of older, powerful (financially, politically, religiously) men taking advantage of younger, softer boys, sound familiar?
But what right does Phil have to stand aloft on his high horse judging blacks, homosexuals, drunks and others? I thought according to The Holy Bible he professes to follow that we were taught to love everyone and to judge not, lest thee be judged. But, see again we get derailed by our deceptions; I began this blog with Big Phil in mind, but what if A&E knew Phil would do this? His assigned public relations person, the buffer between the press and the real Robertsons (not the scrubbed television reality folks) conveniently was left behind while the reporter and Big Phil went off on ATVs, where the reporter let Phil be Phil. They knew the interview would be inflammatory. They probably approved the copy before it went to press. It begins a firestorm. Everyone gets upset. Fans rally. Ratings for the new season will go through the roof. Everyone gets richer. Merchandise continues tingly off Wal-Mart shelves. The family gets paid. The network executives get paid. Everyone has a great holiday. Everyone except the fan who is upset, angry, manipulated unknowingly, deceived without their knowledge or recognition of the deception.
No matter your faith. No matter your sexual orientation. No matter your race. Each individual is an important part of our shared humanity, they deserve respect. You do not have to like it. You don't have to like them. They don't have to like you. I don't like many people, and I know many don't like Me, I am okay with that and if they are not, well screw them anyway. It is the way of humanity. We will never always get along, we are The Beast, we will always compete, war, argue, complain and deceive, at least be honest about it.
Sent from the Beaches along The Mighty Flat River.
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