“And if a bitter future you must tell,
Speak on. do not flatter me
With pity or false words; In my mind
Deception outshames tortures.”
—Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound
Greek legend has it that Prometheus incurred the wrath of Zeus for giving men fire and the gift of blind hope—lighting up today, yet mercifully dimming the future.
It was a frail and miserable humanity, struggling in torment against the knowledge of the time, place and certainty of death, that thankfully received Prometheus’ gifts. Where fear and despair had reigned, peace and hope began to flourish. From those previously oppressed by the futility of their mortal lives sprang a wave of industry and newfound zest for living.
As a general proposition, most will agree that blindness to the future is a good and essential feature of the human experience, but as in all of life, a balance must be struck. The sweet is balanced by the sour, the melodious by cacophony, and so it is with Prometheus’ gift.
How much stress, worry and frustration accompanies our best laid plans as we try to guess at their ultimate outcomes? How much violence arises from our fears of the unknown—what our neighbors, our enemies or cruel fate may bring upon us at a time we cannot now foresee.
How much money, time and talent are spent in efforts to assess complex situations and form predictions of our world tomorrow, and how much money is spent to insure us against losses from future events which may, or may never, occur?
It is from our inability to know the future that our greatest political disputes arise. You may feel that sending forty thousand additional troops to Afghanistan will result in the achievement of our national goals in that region. I may feel that such a course will both fail to achieve anything meaningful and result only in the needless death of more of our service men and women. If we could see the future, at least one of us would change our minds. Perhaps both.
I have an old friend who views the world quite differently than me. As a consequence of this we tend to have very different ideas about how the future will unfold should our country pursue one policy or another.
My friend often comments that she is afraid of the kind of America that her grandchildren will inherit. I have similar concerns. The nature of our concerns are defined by what we believe about today—how we each see our world. It is in this that my friend both scares and saddens me.
My friend gets her news from the Fox News Channel. She trusts what she hears from Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. She takes seriously the pronouncements of Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer as sincere expressions of learned opinion from insightful men. She thinks Sarah Palin is smart and standing up for what’s decent and right.
It does no good to tell my friend that her heros are liars, that so much of what her heros report is simply made up—fictions, deliberate lies told in the hope of deceiving her. My friend is a good and trusting person, the sort of person who plays well the role of a con man’s mark. She is both trusting and deluded. She doesn’t know any better.
What more shames the heart than believing in a lie? How much more damage does the liar than the thief. The thief steals the purse and deprives us of material possessions, but the liar deprives us of our pride and cruelly mocks our dreams.
I feel sorry for my friend. I know she does not want to support policies that ruin lives and bring misery to people, yet she advocates for such policies every day.
I cannot know for certain that Barack Obama will choose the best policy to pursue in Afghanistan, but I can know for certain that he is an American citizen born in Hawaii, qualified for the office to which he was elected, and not a Muslim with designs to bring down this country.
I cannot know for certain that the public option included in the health care reform bill recently passed by the House of Representatives will significantly reduce the cost of health care, but I can know that the bill contains no provision for death panels or the murder of senior citizens.
I cannot know for certain whether, in the end, the stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this year will prove to be a positive force in our country’s economic recovery, but I can know that our President is neither a communist nor buffoon. I can know that his race does not limit his intellect or ability to govern.
We all want a strong, prosperous and free country where our children and grandchildren can pursue their dreams. At least, I hope that we do. Still, our hopes are all about the future, a time we cannot clearly see.
The most we can say about the future, the clearest picture we can draw, is born from our understanding of today. We guess at the outcomes of our best laid plans, and make important decision today that will profoundly affect the lives of generations to come. If our knowledge of today is false, a structure built of lies, our plans will be flawed and our predictions of no value.
The liar deprives us of our pride and cruelly mocks our dreams as the lies come to light and the truth is revealed, all at a time beyond too late. Today, Fox News steals our purse and delivers our possessions to our corporate overlords. Tomorrow, it shames the heart that believed.
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I’m waiting for somebody to tell me what can be done about Fox News? I know they can’t be stopped from telling their lies, but what can be done to help people understand that their news is nothing but fiction? Like your friend so many people really believe the things they hear on Fox. What are the magic words to make them wake up?