Salutations my keen following of fellow bloggers, I am back
with a penchant for writing more insightful posts that explore and delve into
the intricacies of Language and literature.
But before jumping the gun (Much
like America did in the 2000s), it’s time for the WOW word of this post.
Courtesy of the American people’s new president, the word demagogue is one that beautifully encapsulates the person of, and
campaigning strategy of Donald Trump.
Defined as an individual who seeks support by appealing to popular
desires and prejudices rather than by using rational arguments. Even though my
stance on the outcome of this election is neutral, I feel this word fitting of
the new presidential elect in what I believe was the most disgraceful election
of all time. An apt use of this word would be “By his demeanor and campaign
strategy, Trump was seen as being unabashedly a demagogue.”
Now getting to the point of this post, the statement, “Deception
is just as bad as telling an outright lie,” is one that I STRONGLY disagree
with. In my opinion it is far worse than telling an outright lie. When first
presented with this question, my viewpoint was more ambivalent however after
watching the Al Jazeera documentary, Control
Room, which gives insight into the war on Iraq from a non-American
perspective, my thoughts in regards to this changed from intellectual
hesitation to visceral certainness. In war that plagued the Middle East for the
last 10 years and has had repercussions that will have continue to have effect
for generations to come, the media was almost entirely responsible for how the
rest of the world viewed the war. The western broadcasts, from the very onset,
portrayed this war as a war for freedom. A war of attrition against the
supposed dictatorship of that time, the US were portrayed as the heroes of this
war, going in with the selfless aim of liberating a people begging for their
help. In actuality however this was not the case. Innocent men, women and
children were killed; Iraqi citizens wanted nothing to do with their American
“liberators” and instead wanted them gone. This was a blatant example of
deception. Worse than the outright lie of telling people they were there to
help, the entire world was led to believe that the Iraqi Government was sent
from hell with the American intervention being nothing short of heaven sent.
The entire world was turned against and put in favor of the US, only seeing one
side of the story. The greatest deception of this all, was the fact that false
situations were created in which inhumane acts were committed, an example of
these being the writings of Jill Patterson. This is conjunction with the
bombings of news stations that were not pro American, serve to further show
deception as being worse than a lie. Once the truth is revealed, what is left
is a visceral hate towards the American Government and the deceit they spread
worldwide. In conclusion that is why deception is worse than telling an
outright lie.
