This diary isn't about the Paul Ryan speech, because that speech isn't particularly odd in the current political or cultural landscape. Lying has become an acceptable subtext to broader arguments.
I'm fortunate enough to be a technical person by trade. My interactions with customers or coworkers rely on delivering accurate information. I deal in facts.
Perhaps it is a deficit in my make up that I am unable to appreciate emotional arguments based on circumspect evidence. I've always felt revulsion at the idea that perception is reality.
I teach my son my value system, much like any other parent. But am I doing him a disservice, by elevating honesty and reason as noble. Does truth matter anymore?
I can't count the times I've walked away from politics. I hear or read something that is unquestionably false, and hang my head in despair. As a problem solver, I've never seen a problem better solved in an environment of distortion.
I wish I could say it was the Republicans only. If anything, I'm less effected by Republican lies, because I have no investment in their policy positions. I've never voted Republican, so I don't feel it reflects on me personally.
Democrats lie, when lying is politically convenient. Businesses lie, when it is their public relations people feel the truth is potentially damaging.
Even if it isn't a boldface lie, it is a bending of perception to a logical absurdity. I remember here during the health care debate the number of posters that seemed to twist in upon themselves on what was good health care legislation. If we were presented with the end result at the beginning, we would have been severely disappointed.
I've often been criticized as an atheist for a supposed slip towards "moral relativism". Meanwhile the society around me seem to be slipping into a kind of "reality relativism", in which the actual events of history can be filtered and twisted to fit anyone's personal ideology.
We as a nation are facing many challenges. They aren't as insurmountable as many make them seem. We still live in the richest nation in the world. For a country representing 5% of the world's population, we still have incredible potential.
I'm just losing faith in our ability to find enough objective common ground to move forward on what seem like obvious solutions. I don't want Fox News and I don't want MSNBC. Is there anyway of getting back to PBS?