That phrase was proven to me years ago when I had to endue lies about me among a circle of friends. If someone lies about you for any reason, it is because you are a threat to them in some way, a way you may not even realize. You may know something about them that they do not want noised about in public. Or they may think you know something about them. You can be totally ignorant of their motives.
Slander establishes control over other people for someone’s or something’s own purposes.
Then it happened again recently. I was in the library and said to an acquaintance, “I miss seeing you.” I was pleasant and I actually like this person a lot even though we only see each other 3 or so times a year. She snapped back at me, “Well I am here much of the time,” as though I was upset or blaming her.
Then I remembered the newspaper article which came out about me. It was false but my lawyer said it would cost$7,000 dollars to fight the newspaper. I didn’t have the money. He looked around for some financing from companies which handle First Amendment cases and could find none.
So I lost a friend because she believed the newspaper. Did she come to me for the facts? No, she should have, and it made me sad because I realized the world is filled with people who do not know the truth. And even worse, believe they do! And worse than that – make no effort to learn the truth about the people around them.
News media must fear something to be so one-sided.
We look at American culture and see lies everywhere. The FBI spent $16 million dollars trying to find one shred of evidence that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to fix the election in 2016. They haven’t. A waste of money but people still believe it. Almost all political discussions begin with the words, “That’s not true.”
And consider God – who is more lied about than anyone I can name. That actually makes sense. The Bible tells us we are sinners and that if we don’t straighten up, we face eternal punishment. It is easier to say that is a lie than to face the issue straight on. Much of what you read about religion is doctored to fit someone else’s need to escape exposure.
The Bible is always under attack.
Scientists come up with one theory after another to trash ideas of creation or invent ones that leave God out. Psychologists will tell you something is a “lifestyle choice” which is little more than a predatory lust which damages both you and the victim in the end.
I’ve given up reading about the prescriptions I take. Someone somewhere has a reason to believe they are poisoning me. Another person says they are a miracle cure. Since I have been taking them for 10 years I think I might be doing OK.
Being an adult has responsibilities. You must find out the truth yourself. If someone is lying about the government, the President, the Congress or the legislation being currently discussed, you can read all sides yourself. You do not need to rely on bias from anywhere. If you think there might be a shred if truth that you and the human race is headed for hell, look the stuff up!
And simple answers won’t do. Important issues have many sides and if we want to learn and be stable in our living we must settle on truth for ourselves.
