At the beginning of the 5th century AD, Augustine, bishop of Hippo, wrote his “De Mendacio” (“On Lying”). Reading it today, we may be surprised at how rigid and strict Augustine was in his conclusions. A Christian, according to him, could not lie in any circumstances whatsoever; not even to save lives or to avoid suffering for someone. The suffering of the material body, said Augustine, is nothing; what’s important is one’s immortal soul. Later theologians substantially softened these requirements, but there was a logic in Augustine’s stance if we consider his times: the last century of the Western Roman Empire.
By the time of Augustine, the Roman Empire had become an Empire of lies. It still pretended to uphold the rule of law, to protect the people from the Barbarian invaders, to maintain the social order. But all that had become a bad joke for the citizens of an empire by then reduced to nothing more than a giant military machine dedicated to oppressing the poor in order to maintain the privileges of the rich. The Empire itself had become a lie: that it existed because of the favor of the Gods who rewarded the Romans because of their moral virtues. Nobody could believe in that anymore: it was the breakdown of the very fabric of society; the loss of what the ancient called the auctoritas, the trust that citizens had toward their leaders and the institutions of their state.
Augustine was reacting to all this. He was trying to rebuild the “auctoritas”, not in the form of mere authoritarianism of an oppressive government, but in the form of trust. So, he was appealing to the highest authority of all, God himself. He was also building his argument on the prestige that the Christians had gained at a very high price with their martyrs. And not just that. In his texts, and in particular in his “Confessions” Augustine was opening himself completely to his readers; telling them all of his thoughts and his sins in minute details. It was, again, a way to rebuild trust by showing that one had no hidden motives. And he had to be strict in his conclusions. He couldn’t leave any openings that would permit the Empire of Lies to return.
Augustine and other early Christian fathers were engaged, first of all, in an epistemological revolution. Paulus of Tarsus had already understood this point when he had written: “now we see as in a mirror, darkly, then we’ll see face to face.” It was the problem of truth; how to see it? How to determine it? In the traditional view, truth was reported by a witness who could be trusted. The Christian epistemology started from that, to build up the concept of truth as the result divine revelation. The Christians were calling God himself as witness. It was a spiritual and philosophical vision, but also a very down-to-earth one. Today, we would say that the Christians of late Roman times were engaged in “relocalization”, abandoning the expensive and undefendable structures of the old Empire to rebuild a society based on local resources and local governance. The age that followed, the Middle Ages, can be seen as a time of decline but it was, rather, a necessary adaptation to the changed economic conditions. Eventually, all societies must come to terms with Truth. The Western Roman Empire could not do that, It had to disappear, it was unavoidable.
Now, let’s move forward to our times and we have reached our empire of lies. On the current situation, I don’t have to tell you anything that you don’t already know. During the past few decades, the mountain of lies tossed at us by governments has been perfectly matched by the disastrous loss of trust in our leaders on the part of the citizens. When the Soviets launched their first orbiting satellite, the Sputnik, in 1957, nobody doubted that it was for real and the reaction of the US government was to launch their own satellites. Today, plenty of people even deny that the US sent men to the moon in the 1960s. They may be ridiculed, they may be branded as conspiracy theorists, sure, but they are there. Perhaps the watershed of this collapse of trust was with the story of the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” that we were told were hidden in Iraq. It was not their first, nor it will be their last, lie. But how can you ever trust an institution that lied to you so brazenly? (and that continue to do so?)
Today, every statement from a government, or from an even remotely “official” source, seems to generate a parallel and opposite statement of denial. Unfortunately, the opposite of a lie is not necessarily the truth, and that has originated baroque castles of lies, counter-lies, and counter-counter lies. Think of the story of the 9/11 attacks in New York. Somewhere, hidden below the mass of legends and myths that have piled up on this story, there has to be the truth; some kind of truth. But how to find it when you can’t trust anything you read on the Web? Or think of peak oil. At the simplest level of conspiratorial interpretation, peak oil can be seen as a reaction to the lies of oil companies that hide the depletion of their resources. But you may also see peak oil as a scam created by oil companies that try to hide the fact that their resources are actually abundant – even infinite in the diffuse legend of “abiotic oil”. But, for others, the idea that peak oil is a scam created in order to hide abundance may be a higher order scam created in order to hide scarcity. Eve higher order conspiracy theories are possible. It is a fractal universe of lies, where you have no reference point to tell you where you are.
Eventually, it is a problem of epistemology. The same that goes back to Pontius Pilate’s statement “what is truth?” Where are we supposed to find truth in our world? Perhaps in science? But science is rapidly becoming a marginal sect of people who mumble of catastrophes to come. People whom nobody believes any longer after they failed to deliver their promises of energy too cheap to meter, space travel, and flying cars. Then, we tend to seek it in such things as “democracy” and to believe that a voting majority somehow defines “truth”. But democracy has become a ghost of itself: how can citizens make an informed choice after that we discovered the concept that we call “perception management” (earlier on called “propaganda”)?
Going along a trajectory parallel to that of the ancient Romans, we haven’t yet arrived at having a semi-divine emperor residing in Washington D.C., considered by law to be the repository of divine truth. And we aren’t seeing yet a new religion taking over and expelling the old ones. At present, the reaction against the official lies takes mostly the form of what we call “conspiratorial attitude.” Although widely despised, conspirationism is not necessarily wrong; conspiracies do exist and much of the misinformation that spreads over the web must be created by someone who is conspiring against us. The problem is that conspirationism is not a form of epistemology. Once you have decided that everything you read is part of the great conspiracy, then you have locked yourself in an epistemological box and thrown away the key. And, like Pilate, you can only ask “what is truth?”, but you will never find it.
Is it possible to think of an “epistemology 2.0” that would allow us to regain trust on the institutions and on our fellow human beings? Possibly, yes but, right now, we are seeing as in a mirror, darkly. Something is surely stirring, out there; but it has not yet taken a recognizable shape. Maybe it will be a new ideal, maybe a revisitation of an old religion, maybe a new religion, maybe a new way of seeing the world. We cannot say which form the new truth will take, but we can say that nothing new can be born without the death of something. And that all births are painful but necessary.
onlooker on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 5:40 pm
The difference this time is that this Empire of lies and aggression and war has spawned an even more deadly addiction and fixation with consumerism and greed via the Capitalistic system and this system is already far along in wrecking the habitability of this planet for most higher life forms including ourselves.
Sissyfuss on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 5:42 pm
Something is surely stirring out there; it is called extinction.
makati1 on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 6:04 pm
Both of you are correct. We have not only followed the rise and fall of Roam, in less than 70 years, but taken it to a whole new level. Extinction.
When I was born in 1944, even living through the “Duck and Cover” age, I never thought I would see the human extinction, but it seems that I might. We seem hell bent on making it happen. Homo sapiens, the intelligent species. HAH!
joe on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 6:23 pm
Weirdly I don’t recall that ‘almost everyone’ was convinced Iraq has wmd in 2003, as I recall the biggest protests in history occured around the world, were totally ignored by the neoliberal/necon whatever you call em elites all over the world. France and Germany stayed out and got bumped down to the lower league of ‘old europe’ until Obama came along. So many lies.
Apneaman on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 7:15 pm
Joe is correct – plenty of protest in the US and around the world and not all of the MSM was instantly onboard. It took some time, but they leaned on them and in the end they were all in. If I remember correctly WaPo was one of the last to cave. Just 12 years ago, but if it happened today?…..well the corruption/ownership of the MSM is now complete. There might still be some reporters left with some integrity, but they know the unspoken rules about what lines not to cross. What questions NOT to ask. We will never see the likes of any Woodwards and Bernsteins again. Assange, Manning, Snowden – default enemy of the security state for any truth tellers today. Prison, exile or price on your head.
Conversely, untold millions did not give a shit if it was a bunk pretext. They wanted to see “Shock & Awe” unleashed on Saddam and Muslims in general and any old muslims would do. Many Americans love their Hollywood style bad guys the spin doctors conjure up whenever the empire wants a regime change or pretext or whatever. Putin is the latest. Gaddafi, Saddam, Noriega, Castro – long fucking list. The armchair Rambos love those vicarious killer dopamine hits streamed into their pliable brains via CNN. Get to sit on the couch and feel powerful for once in their sad lives. Virtual reality.
makati1 on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 8:01 pm
Ap, Americans have been, and are being, conditioned for a world war. I stopped watching American made movies if there is even a chance that the U$ military might be involved, as most of them seem to have some military propaganda part. Especially SF and/or ‘action’ movies. Superheros who are all AMERICAN and tied to the military in some way. Magazines, TV, even the seemingly innocent “Thank the Troops” bullshit. Thank the ‘corporate enforcers’ more like it. Why thank fools who are mostly there for the money (no jobs outside) or they like to kill or maybe a few who are just stupid ‘patriots’? I don’t, and I did serve for 11 years when it meant something patriotic, not corporate greed. Have I offended someone here with my political incorrectness? I hope so, Snowflake. LOL
BTW: My grandfather got gassed in WW1 and my father jumped into France on D-Day. Don’t try to say my family has not done their part to defend America. The real America of my childhood days. Not the oligarchy/fascist America of today. How many 1%ers can claim the same? They were all busy getting rich and living in safety, just like today.
Truth Has A Liberal Bias on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 8:31 pm
“I never thought I would see the human extinctio”
That statement is so stupid I don’t even know where to start.
DerHundistlos on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 8:48 pm
The Empire Strikes Back:
The American political science professor who confidently predicted Trump’s victory months ago and he wrote a book explaining why is now predicting that the Republican controlled congress will impeach Trump in order to get their Republican lackey- VP Pence- made president. Now Republican writers and politicians (ex. David Brooks) are floating a plan to dump Trump next year in order to fill the presidency with Republican yes-man, Pence. If this happens, the elites will be back in power and much stronger than before.
DerHundistlos on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 8:53 pm
Truth: So you can’t contemplate the extinction of the human species? I can and I cheer it forward. The elimination of the parasitic human race would be the best possible outcome for all other life on the Earth.
makati1 on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 10:16 pm
Truth, denial is not an option in the real world. That statement is reality.
Apneaman on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 11:15 pm
Signs of the End Times
McDonald’s introduces Nutella ‘burger’
http://wgntv.com/2016/11/11/mcdonalds-introduces-nutella-burger/
Amazon delivery drivers ‘feel compelled to defecate in vans’ to save time
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/amazon-minimum-wage-delivery-drivers-illegal-hours-have-to-defecate-urinate-in-vans-a7411001.html
Meet the unopposed Assembly candidate who says climate change is a good thing that hurts ‘enemies on the equator’
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-new-controversial-legislator-snap-20161101-story.html
U.S. expresses concern over Nicaragua’s ‘flawed’ election
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nicaragua-election-idUSKBN13108W?il=0
Keith McClary on Sat, 12th Nov 2016 11:31 pm
Truth Has A Liberal Bias:
“I never thought I would see the human extinction” That statement is so stupid …
Yah, most likely just a severe population bottleneck.
Dredd on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 12:23 am
“Once upon a time the Earth was flat, causing the stars and planets to orbit around it, because it was also the center of the universe.
Weather on the flat Earth was stable, in that, it was always either winter, summer, fall, or spring at the same time on the vast flatness.
Then the Earth was changed into a globe by librul scientists.
So, all those planets went into orbit around stars like our Sun, and now even the stars are no longer orbiting the Earth.
Additionally, ever since the Earth became no longer flat, instead becoming a globe orbiting the Sun, there has been both summer and winter at the same time on Earth.
For example, now as we speak “it” has been threating to become 122 deg. F. (50 deg. C) in Australia, while “it” is super cold at the very same time in the flat lands in the U.S. Midwest.”
(The Damaged Global Climate System)
Apneaman on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 12:55 am
Truth the denier and Keith the minimizer. Can’t happen to humans.
Humans could be among the victims of sixth ‘mass extinction’, scientists warn
“And the study, which was published in the journal Science Advances on Friday and described by its authors as “conservative”, said humans were likely to be among the species lost.
“If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on,” lead author Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico said.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-20/sixth-mass-extinction-impact-humans-study-says/6560700
Guess what? It’s being “allowed” to continue. In fact, it’s being cheered on by billions of single minded, insatiable, dopamine addicted cancer monkeys.
Yorchichan on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 4:38 am
Truth: So you can’t contemplate the extinction of the human species?
Truth, denial is not an option in the real world.
Truth the denier…
I read it as it is not possible for a member of a species to witness the extinction of that species. This is correct.
Davy on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 6:19 am
“I read it as it is not possible for a member of a species to witness the extinction of that species. This is correct.” Good use of logic and irony! Yea, to imagine in my mind now that very last human breath as the lights go out for a large brain Ape species. It is possible this time there will not be another side species either like we humans assumed over the Neanderthals.
Extinction and evolution are two sides of the same coin for the “Ecos”. Life itself and geologic acquiescence are a step up from that. Geological acquiescence allows life and life shapes geology. If you wipe your eyes of human exceptionalism and see the connectivity of humans, life, and earth you must submit to humility. You must accept we are not meant to be eternal. Life may well be eternal in some respects maybe as in if there is geology and chemistry in the universe than there will be life. I firmly believe the universe has life elsewhere. Humans should let go of our exceptionalism and assume our extinction as likely. Frankly, it appears to be natural and necessary per natural law because that is life.
It is possible we have a generation or two to go before human civilization is over in regards to modern and advanced. That is an extinction of sorts with the end of a man-type. Advanced may not fit our civilization because in a short time we have taken ourselves to the brink of extinction. How can that be defined advanced? It is possible another man-type will evolve to position itself within the Ecos properly with intelligent life. We so called modern humans do not yet fit this definition. We are advanced in our own narrow exceptionalism not reality.
Further on depending on how bad the 6th great extinction is along with climate disruption, we may be gone as a species. Whereas our modern civilization may have 10 -20 years our species may have another 100-200 years. It is unclear yet just how bad our footprint will have been on the ability of the Ecos to support advanced life forms. We may see a small population of humans eking out existence on the fringes. We then become like any species very exposed to further disruptions.
If we make it through that bottleneck then maybe over the course of many thousands of years a new man will evolve maybe not. If not, the Ecos will likely again establish life and likely eventually intelligent life. Wales and dolphins are superior to human in the regards to an “Ecos” sapience. “Ecos” sapience is not measured in knowledge it is measured by sustainable and resilient sapience in relation to the Ecos. I made that up but that is my view of things. It may not be a bad thing for humans to go extinct. We don’t fit the mold of life in the regards to a build of complexity the Ecos is capable of. We fit the mold of an extinction species. In this respect we have utility for nature because we further the Ecos natural tendency of extinction and evolution.
Maybe the Ecos builds complexity over millenniums and it is the fact there is not human like life early in this process that the complexity is allowed to advance. It is then part of the process that intelligent life develops as the extinction part of this process. It may be in this regard any intelligence is destine to extinction because its place in the process of evolution and extinction is the extinction component. Higher intelligence is flawed because self-reflection is not harmonious with complexity building but instead is that component that separates and destroys complexity of the whole for the enrichment of itself thereby killing all off in the process. “Just say-in” our extinction may have meaning so don’t cry and act so glum.
makati1 on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 6:30 am
Yorchichan, really? The last person alive will certainly be there for his death. Death is rarely instantaneous. And, this time, it may be from starvation, a long drawn out death. But then, humans would be the only species to recognize their extinction. Certainly some dinosaur did not think: “Damn, I’m the last one!” LMAO
Davy on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 7:15 am
makati, goofy, think about it, how is that man you fantasize about going to know if there is another man somewhere else alive or not? It is not like there will be an internet to connect to and google “the last man alive”
Yorchichan on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 10:47 am
@makati
Debatable whether it is possible to witness ones own death. But mostly it’s the awareness problem that Davy pointed out.
We could always ask THALB for clarification?
solarity on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 11:18 am
“Climate change that Trump has defined as a hoax.”
No, another lie by selective exclusion of the entire trueful phrase. Trump does not deny historical factual climate change. It is climate change alarmism that is the hoax.
jjhman on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 11:32 am
@DerHundistlos:
I love your handle. It took me minute, I had to say it out loud. I haven’t heard that phrase since I left Germany in 1967.
Apneaman on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 12:13 pm
solarity, ya nothing to be alarmed about at all.
“In 2016 (as of September), there have been 12 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States”
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/
Billion-dollar weather disasters increasingly frequent
“According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States as thus far endured a total of 12 natural disasters causing at least $1 billion in damage each in 2016. Included in that number are four major flooding events and eight severe storms. By comparison, from 1980 through 2000, the average annual number of billion-dollar natural disasters, as measured using CPI-adjusted figures, was merely 3.7.
NOAA’s numbers indicate that we have entered an era in which costly weather-related disasters are troublingly commonplace. While 2016 has been a devastating year for such events, it is hardly an outlier. In 2015, we saw 10 billion-dollar disasters; in 2011, NOAA recorded 16. All told, from 2001 through the present, the average number of such disasters per year jumped to 7.7.”
http://www.businessinsuranceattorney.com/2016/10/14/billion-dollar-weather-disasters-increasingly-frequent/
Tell yourself.
Apneaman on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 1:27 pm
solarity, you should take a trip to North Carolina so you can tell them all not to be alarmed since getting record breaking floods all over the state from AGW jacked Hurricane mathew one month followed by severe drought and wildfires all over the place the next month, in the middle of November, is all perfectly normal. Nothing new and no need to be alarmed. Why when grandpa was young they had record floods every other year followed one month later with drought and wildfires.
Climut all-wees changes and records are always broken too.
solarity, when the next AGW jacked rainbomb or hail bomb or wildfires burns or floods your shit or turns one of your loved ones into the next face down floater, remember not to be alarmed or even surprised because it’s a certainty that is coming to everyone.
BTW, it is impossible for environmentalists and scientists to be to alarmist. In fact most of them are in their own form of denial in that they still think something can be done to stop or slow the freight train – too late.
If any group can be classified as alarmist it’s rightwingers. Holy fuck! Under Obama, US oil & gas extraction had their best 8 years, yet these fucking retard mouth breathers endlessly bitched, moaned and screamed that Obama & liberals & the EPA & agenda 21 environmentalists & the tooth fairy were killing their fossil fuel freedoms, liberty, rights, bla bla bla. Yet the reality was exactly the opposite. A fracking boom that was a conservatard wet dream. Exactly what they wanted more more and more. YET the more the more fossil fuels that were extracted the louder they got about their victimization. Why is that? Next example is the Guns. Hundreds of bunk conspiracy rumors that Obama was coming fer yer guns N ammo and they got louder after each mass shooting along with the stockpiling of guns N ammo. What, this happened like 10 – 15 times? Mass shooting – internet conspiracy paranoia from right wingers – panic buying of guns N ammo – firearms manufactures stock goes up – rinse and repeat – rinse and repeat – rinse and repeat……… And Obama did not even take 1 single fucking bullet from anyone. The NRA spin Doctors are going to miss Obama after the next mass shooting, but it shouldn’t be too hard to conjure up another boogeyman to send them into another buying frenzy. Seriously, I cannot see any group in America that is a so completely dumbed down and malleable as that lot.
Kylon on Sun, 13th Nov 2016 9:57 pm
The way to find truth is to look for consistency.
If something is completely and totally inconsistent with everything that you’ve known, then if it’s worth to you to know the truth about it, you have to research into it, to find whether it’s consistent or inconsistent with reality.
If you really want to get good at debunking falsehoods, study logic. Basic rules that can be used to prove something false or truth.
Apneaman on Mon, 14th Nov 2016 1:08 am
“How frequent are these events?
This year, the U.S. has had 12 billion-dollar disaster events — floods, wildfires, hurricanes, severe storms, and droughts that each caused more than $1 billion worth of damage. Adjusted for inflation, there were on average only about two such events a year in the 1980s, five a year in the 1990s and 2000s, and almost 11 a year between 2010 and 2015. The flooding in Louisiana in August was the country’s eighth “once-in-every-500-years” weather event in a little over 12 months. Wildfires in California and other parts of the West grew at a rate of 90,000 acres a year between 1984 and 2011; in Alaska, four of the 10 worst fire seasons on record have occurred since 2004. The U.N. has calculated that the number of severe storms, floods, and heat waves worldwide is five times greater than it was in 1970;”
http://theweek.com/articles/661076/why-extreme-weather-new-normal
makati1 on Mon, 14th Nov 2016 1:47 am
Ap, I think we are fast approaching that ‘hockey stick’ moment.
DerHundistlos on Mon, 14th Nov 2016 8:49 am
@jjhman
Thank you. I am most pleased to know you understand the meaning of the screen name- a funny German understood response to, ‘what is loose’.
Hubbert on Mon, 14th Nov 2016 8:55 am
CIA and the banksters sturring up trouble in Korea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RP0FGNidFE