more lies.....

The Invention of Lying - which I watched last night, features an alternative world where is no such thing as lying. Or empathy , or plain good manners it would seem. Everyone tells the truth and only the truth. A simple 'How are you?' will typically get the response 'suicidal' or maybe even 'constipated' and the inhabitants of this strange world fall over themselves to let you have their truth - with both barrels. Placing an order in a restaurant for instance will result in the waiter telling you exactly what he thinks of you and Chef's recommendations take on a whole new meaning. This a world where everyone is blunt and painfully honest. Not to say cruel. Mark (Ricky Gervais) discovers the concept of lying. With the ability to lie, he makes changes to his life and the life's of those around him. Ultimately he accidentally invents religion. Naturally there is a love story thrown in for good measure but I found the film utterly depressing. And confusing. Life in this alternative reality lacked substance and worth, not because there was no such thing as truth or lies (and no word for truth or lie either, the concept of an untruth so alien, Mark says with a perplexed expression it is 'saying something that isn't) but because there is no empathy or compassion. It was a Stepford Wives for the masses. At the end I felt quite relived I live in a world filled with lies!

But there are degrees of lies. Lying by omission, lying to protect yourself or others, lying to cause pain, lying to make yourself appear more confident, important and interesting. In a previous blog I looked at lying in a light hearted way. The small lies we tell every day, the 'I'm on my way' or 'No, your bum does not look big in that' type of lies that are almost socially acceptable and sometimes expected. You are meant to say that your friends new born baby is absolutely adorable when you actually think the small, wrinkled and squashed human being looks anything but attractive or cute. You would lose friends at an alarming rate if you always spoke the truth to them.

Today's 'The Big Questions', a programme that debates moral, ethical and religious views explored, among other things, the Devil. Most religions have a devil like figure. Even Buddhism has Mara, a devil like figure. Mara tries to prevent humans from practicing a spiritual life by 'making the mundane alluring or the negative positive'. Mara is also attributed with the power of 'preventing the person from seeing the truth.' However, unlike the Christian devil for instance, Mara is not a being in it's own right but more the negative side of ones own being. The devil I am more familiar with, the one of my childhood, is the fallen angel who had a row with God over something and was 'banished'. Put out by this banishment the fallen angel changed his name to Satan (AKA as Lucifer and a few other aliases) and setup home in a place called Hell which is filled with brimstone and fire and when I was a child I was often told I would be going there one day if I didn't say my prayers, confess my sins or do my homework. Satan swapped his wings for horns, and for some unexplained reason, his feet for hoofs and he enjoys the ability to transfigurate into various shapes and forms. According to some twat on 'TBQs' Satan also enjoys possessing pubs, factories and the occasional African. Now, let's suspend all rational thought and good sense for a moment and accept that Satan exists and is happily living in Hell and gets his kicks from tempting us mortals to lie, fornicate and generally do bad things. As the world is full of liars, fornicators and adulterers Satan must be very pleased with himself. On the 'domestic' front he has us all saying 'why, thank you, just what I've always wanted' as we unwrap yet another pair of socks or jar of bath salts and he has, it seems, almost everyone who has a pulse fornicating whenever they get the opportunity. And 60% of married men committing adultery according to the latest figures. On a bigger scale he has Catholic priests abusing children and the Catholic church covering up the extent of the the abuse. He has wars being fought in the name of God, he has child turning on child, brother on brother. Why then would he waste his time possessing some poor African woman or scaring customers trying to enjoy a pint in some rural pub? Why does he show his presence by getting his victims to 'speak in tongues' or vomit glass shards? Mere parlour tricks for a being that could, if you believe the devil believers, cause global destruction seem such a waste of time. I loved the comment by a the Humanist in the audience who made them look like the (dangerous) fools they are when she asked 'why not put these exorcisms on YouTube? You would have thousands of converts.'

'I don't really believe in the Devil, but if the Devil is the Father of Lies, then he certainly invented the Internet. Ken Macleod'