Creating ugly isn't easy. Ugliness takes planning and a great deal of effort. One must put aside for a moment the natural tendency to make better any wrong. To side step truth and create a different narrative with circular logic to achieve the heinous effect desired. One must also develop a clever skill of concealment. It would appear that anyone can do this, if they have a vested interest in the outcome. Governments, religions, institutions, politicians, leaders of every stripe have under taken this mission. Somehow, they reasoned it was worth the effort to lie, distort, misinform, malign, or circumvent what was truthful, what was beautiful. History is full of these deeds and their perpetrators duly noted. Tales of how it went down, who didn't speak up, those who turned a blind eye to the ugly truth of what was happening are there in the margins. Recent events, here in this country and abroad clearly shows that those evil ways are still being propagated, without much pressure to cease. A strongly worded press release or embargo will only do so much. For those who do resist the evil tide, the weary fight is usually alone, or they are ill equipped to handle it. The beauty of mankind's humanity has a stain. It has soaked to the very fibers of a country's being. While time will expose all ugly deeds to the intense scrutiny of daylight, and will gradually fade, it will still be visible upon close inspection. Are the ones responsible for creating and maintaining beauty in this world, creative enough, strong enough, to cover over the stain with a new pattern to blend it away? Or will it become a scar for humanity to stare at over time while trying to recall how it happened? Those uglies have persisted throughout history around the world. Once, this nation was seen as great. We had moved beyond the ugly portions of our collective past. We considered ourselves enlightened, smarter, diligent, industrious, a world leader. We followed no one, they followed us. Now we are backsliding. The world community looks at us and wonders why we don't see what is plainly happening in front of our faces. They pity us. They mock us. They are waiting, like vultures to pounce at our demise. The ugly truth is we allowed all this to happen. We stayed silent and passive. We let incompetence rule the land and ignorance become vogue. The greatest question now is, will we allow it to continue?Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The Ugly Truth
Creating ugly isn't easy. Ugliness takes planning and a great deal of effort. One must put aside for a moment the natural tendency to make better any wrong. To side step truth and create a different narrative with circular logic to achieve the heinous effect desired. One must also develop a clever skill of concealment. It would appear that anyone can do this, if they have a vested interest in the outcome. Governments, religions, institutions, politicians, leaders of every stripe have under taken this mission. Somehow, they reasoned it was worth the effort to lie, distort, misinform, malign, or circumvent what was truthful, what was beautiful. History is full of these deeds and their perpetrators duly noted. Tales of how it went down, who didn't speak up, those who turned a blind eye to the ugly truth of what was happening are there in the margins. Recent events, here in this country and abroad clearly shows that those evil ways are still being propagated, without much pressure to cease. A strongly worded press release or embargo will only do so much. For those who do resist the evil tide, the weary fight is usually alone, or they are ill equipped to handle it. The beauty of mankind's humanity has a stain. It has soaked to the very fibers of a country's being. While time will expose all ugly deeds to the intense scrutiny of daylight, and will gradually fade, it will still be visible upon close inspection. Are the ones responsible for creating and maintaining beauty in this world, creative enough, strong enough, to cover over the stain with a new pattern to blend it away? Or will it become a scar for humanity to stare at over time while trying to recall how it happened? Those uglies have persisted throughout history around the world. Once, this nation was seen as great. We had moved beyond the ugly portions of our collective past. We considered ourselves enlightened, smarter, diligent, industrious, a world leader. We followed no one, they followed us. Now we are backsliding. The world community looks at us and wonders why we don't see what is plainly happening in front of our faces. They pity us. They mock us. They are waiting, like vultures to pounce at our demise. The ugly truth is we allowed all this to happen. We stayed silent and passive. We let incompetence rule the land and ignorance become vogue. The greatest question now is, will we allow it to continue?
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2 comments:
alas, it is likely to continue.
Well stated, Dave, and sadly true. It appears that a very large segment of of population is in denial. They have stuck their fingers in their ears, shut their eyes, and are shouting nonsense syllables to drown out those who would speak the truth. They think that if they shout their idiocy loud enough and often enough it will be true and they will never need to face the ugliness that is themselves.
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