Lying for Your Own Good
In 1977, I was seventeen years old. A book came out called The Hot Blooded Dinosaurs. One of its revelations was that the Archaeopteryx, the earliest know bird, was in fact a feathered dinosaur closely related to Velociraptor. It was the perfect example of what evolutionist call a “transitional form.”
I wrote a letter to Dr. Duane T. Gish, who was then the head of the Institute for Creation Research. His position was, of course, that evolution was false and that transitional forms were absent from the fossil record. He wrote me back and (condescendingly) told me that it was his “firm belief” that Archaeopteryx was not transitional, that it was “all bird”. After all, it had wings and feathers. I wrote him back with a detailed list of skeletal characteristics that Archaeopteryx had in common with “raptors”. Gloating, I sent the letter off.
His reply surprised me. He said that my letter proved Archaeopteryx was not transitional, and it was his “firm belief ” that it was “all dinosaur”. I learned a valuable lesson about conservatism that day.
From Intelligent Design to Judicial Activism, to the role of the Church in racial politics, to the War on Terror, to the Contract with America; then school prayer to “States Rights” to the Confederate flag; from the “death tax” and the Gay Marriage issue, to the shifting justifications for the Iraq invasion: the Right seems unable to keep their stories straight. And when you point out their inconsistencies, they almost always either change the subject or angrily shout you down or simply sneer at you. There is a reason for this: they are liars.
The liberal is shocked, SHOCKED, that the conservative continues to be so strenuously dishonest. The conservative sneers “Are you calling me (The President/A Senator/A man of God) a LIAR? How dare you?”
Liberals need to internalize a painful truth. Many Conservatives, especially religious ones, believe that Liberals are quite literally under the power of Satan. They do not believe that lying to Satan or the satanically influenced is wrong. They are not really “lying”, they are only “tricking” you, as in “When the Nazi soldier asked me which way the resistance fighters went, I ‘tricked’ him into thinking they went south, when I knew they went north.” In that situation, lying not only isn’t wrong or sinful, it is one’s duty. They honestly don’t see W as a contemptible liar–far from it. He is a jovial “trickster”.
If you are a Liberal, whether they are your friend, a family member, your boss, whoever…this is how these people feel about you. And if you call them on it, how will they respond? Why, they will lie to you and deny it of course!