Honor Built This House

It is my honor to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...

... as a creator dedicated to vivo et liber.

It is my privilege to illuminate the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...

... as a creator dedicated to mutuus et aequum.

It is my duty to expose the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...

... as a creator dedicated to mercy and justice.

Will you join me...

... as a creator too...?

Will you build this house of truth... with me... for all?

Honor Built This House

What honor built...

... dishonor destroyed.

What nobility built...

... greed destroyed.

What truth built...

... lies destroyed.

What we built...

... we destroyed...

... before.

*

The house...

... honor built...

... rested on...

A bedrock of honor and integrity.

A bedrock of caring and kindness.

A bedrock of mercy and understanding.

A bedrock of goodwill and goodwork.

A bedrock of vivo et liber and mutuus et aequum.

*

But I ask you:

Is this bedrock of honor and integrity...

worthless

that you would cast it aside?

Is this bedrock of caring and kindness...

meaningless

that you would abolish it?

Is this bedrock of mercy and understanding...

inconvenient

that you would nullify it?

Is this bedrock of goodwill and goodwork

cowardly

that you would repudiate it?

Is this bedrock of vivo et liber and mutuus et aequum

ignoble

that you would crucify it?

*

Until what would stand...

But a house...

... sans caring and kindness and mercy and understanding and goodwill and goodwork and vivo et liber and mutuus et aequum?

*

A house of dishonor.

A house of greed.

A house of lies.

A house of us.

*

What honor builds...

... dishonor destroys.

What nobility builds...

... greed destroys.

What truth builds...

... lies destroy.

What we build...

... we destroy...

... now.

*

But I ask you:

Will you... as we destroy what honor built...

Will you... as we destroy what nobility built...

Will you... as we destroy what truth built...

Will you... as we destroy what we built with honor, nobility, truth...

... speak no honor...?

... illuminate no nobility...?

... expose no truth...?

*

As creators, one and all, dedicated to vivo et liber and mutuus et aequum and mercy and justice...

... are not all of us...

... who speak no honor, illuminate no nobility, expose no truth...

... building indeed...

... no house of honor, no house of nobility, no house of truth...?

Moreover...

... are not all of us...

... who will destroy what honor built, who will destroy what nobility built, who will destroy what truth built...

... who will cast aside honor and integrity, who will abolish caring and kindness, who will nullify mercy and understanding, who will repudiate goodwill and goodwork, who will crucify vivo et liber and mutuus et aequum... 

... building instead...

... a house of dishonor and greed and lies...

... where once stood a house of truth...?

*

It is my honor, my privilege, my duty...

... to speak, to illuminate, to expose... the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...

... to stand... on a bedrock of honor and integrity, caring and kindness, mercy and understanding, goodwill and goodwork, vivo et liber and mutuus et aequum...

... to build this house of truth... in the face of lies, greed, and dishonor.

Will you...

... join me... for all?

Or...

Will you...

... choose sides...

... choose war...

... choose you, you, you...

... until the house honor built...

... is irrevocably destroyed...

... by you, you, you... for you, you, you?

More

Make no mistake...

... there is no side that is the side of honor.

That sides lie... 

That sides proclaim theirs as the side of honor...

... no more makes lies truths than liars truthers by virtue of proclamation and nothing more.

No more than the drip drop of crocodile tears and the tick tock of crocodile hearts...

... make surrogates any more sincere and genuine than stakeholders by virtue of drip drop and tick tock and nothing more.

- M

See also Choosing Sides Is Choosing War (tvfs)

etc.

Translating Pretzel Land

Let's troll Pretzel Land to unravel some scripts that are obfuscating realities for lies, lies, lies.

Shall we?

Translating Pretzel Land

In Pretzel Land there are some terms that are widely bantered. 

These terms assume realities that generate unwarranted conclusions that ultimately fuel scripts that obfuscate realities, if not also truths, for fictions, lies, masques, etc., verily fabrications.

Insofar as these fabrications further agendas to advance interests, these fabrications remain largely unchallenged and predominately believed, despite indiscriminate reliance on assumptions, conclusions, scripts, and realities that may be

in part if not in whole

lies, lies, lies.

*

Caveat

I am not fluent in aggressively asinine.

Nor am I fluent in contemptuous duplicity.

Insofar as dialects of aggressively asinine and contemptuous duplicity dominate Pretzel Land... I recognize that there are limitations to the following endeavor...

Nevertheless... to the extent that that which is lost in translation is offset by the utility of that which is gained... here goes...

*  

undecideds ~

True undecideds ostensibly describe undecideds.

But even among true undecideds, there are decideds.

Including decideds who have decided none of the above.

Needless to say.

Such undecideds are decidedly not undecided.

Moreover.

Among undecideds are untrue undecideds.

Who, for lack of a better word, are deceivers who demonstrate swaying hither and thither.

As if, by virtue of pretensions of undecidedness, such sways legitimize deceptions for the purposes of demonstrating conversions from undecidedness to decidedness.

(Or, more banally, for the purposes of dramatic effect or for the purposes of concocted import of that which is inherently unimportant, etc.)

Notwithstanding that all registered voters are inherently undecideds

Until decisions are officially decided.

Because decisions affirmed no more determine decisions decided, than any of us can predict the future with conclusive certainty.

Because anything can happen between affirming and decided.

Including, changing minds and gasp

changing ballots.

*

polls ~

While there are hundreds of millions of citizens in Pretzel Land

Polls reflect infinitesimally small representations of citizens

As well as infinitesimally small representations of registered voters.

(A number smaller than citizenship per ruthless disenfranchisement.)

Which is to say.

Any assumed mandate of citizens cannot be assumed

Simply per voters.

Because voters are a fraction of citizens.

Moreover.

To the extent that there are untrue undecideds and deceptive undecideds and undecideds that are decided and undecideds that are fickle (a condition that is wholeheartedly fine, despite condemnation otherwise), etc.

Poll respondents are also correspondingly diverse.

Such that polls that polarize responses, for example

That arbitrarily limit respondents to two responses, for example

Achieve polarization

Regardless of whether or not polarization exists.

Often.

Polls that polarize responses that arbitrarily limit respondents to two responses, polarize respondents in order to fabricate scripts.

As if, by virtue of ostensibly 'scientific processes' of 'data collection', such scripts are laundered from illegitimate fabrications to legitimate 'facts' with respect to 'extant polarization'.

Meanwhile.

Voting as a private and solemn affair has devolved into public spectacles vigorously endorsed by stakeholders and surrogates and pop up soap box hucksters from here to Oz.

Likewise.

From polls to focus groups to analyses bloated by the thin air of desperation, the attempt to divine the future, though unrestrained in fervor, remains as futile as ever. 

*

sides ~

Ostensibly sides are sides.

However sides are no more certainly sides than undecideds are certainly undecideds

Without qualifications.

Verily.

Among sides are unsides

That are decidedly not sides

Regardless of side.

That is.

Among every side is any side but and any option but and if these are the only options and if I must choose one side and if my only choice is death or one side and since meteor isn't an option, etc.

Indeed.

That spectacles abound

That polarize us

There are assumptions disseminated by many of us

As to sides being sides or unsides that fuel foundations of sand upon which houses of cards are scaffolded by conclusions of mandates and buttressed by scripts of realities.

As if assumptions of sides being sides or unsides

Are always true and sacrosanct and indisputably inviolable

By virtue of nothing more our say so that assumptions are 'facts'

Whereupon such 'facts' validate agendas that advance interests

That are hardly likely to advance interests of citizens

Much less the truth

So much as the interests of sides playing fast and loose with mutuus et aequum for all.

*

Needless to say, there are far more terms that proliferate the landscape of Pretzel Land than above...

Likewise, there are far more realities that are assumed that generate unwarranted conclusions that ultimately fuel scripts that obfuscate realities, if not also truths, for fictions, lies, masques, etc., verily fabrications that further agendas to advance interests that remain largely unchallenged and predominately believed, despite blatant reliance on assumptions, conclusions, scripts, and realities that may be, in part if not in whole, lies, lies, lies, than above...

Nevertheless, to the extent that the terms above illuminate that scripts can be manipulated and furthermore are fabricated to further agendas to advance interests...

Here's to unraveling obfuscation and exposing transparency in Pretzel Land and beyond.

Addendum

Aside from terms widely bantered, Pretzel Land is also rife with strategems and tactics that obfuscate realities as certainly as terms

Including mischaracterizations and demonizations

By which characterizations of sides, for example

For ballots, for example

Are reduced to caricatures that legitimize distortions for the purposes of mischaracterization and demonization

As well as for the purposes of bloating the import of that which is inherently unimportant, and for the purposes of convenience, generalizations to enhance the dramatic appeal of that which is inherently banal, etc.

That are as utilized by one side as by all sides

For effect beyond the obvious.

Including.

Assumptions of mischaracterizations and demonizations propagated by one side

Disseminated by other sides

In order to legitimize conversions of sides

Without which conversions are less compellingly zealous sans emotional leverage.

In other words.

Defenses of distortions, including mischaracterizations and demonizations, indefensibly rely on fanatical justifications of winning at all costs.

Even at the cost of truths.

Such that honesty and integrity are expendable when sides play to win by repudiating that which is fundamental to fair and just competitions:

Honesty and Integrity.

Needless to say.

The use of emotional leverage to sway decisions hither and thither

Invariably circumvent categorical recognition of truths in plain sight

Often with relentless pressure to succumb to the illogic of extremism and the intolerance of absolutism

In order for one side to win over other sides.

Even as competing so

Elevates dishonor for the sake of sides at the expense of mutuus et aequum for all.

*

Note to Addendum

There is as much to be gained by assuming that sides mischaracterize and demonize others

Even if such assumption is nothing more than assumption.

Likewise.

There is as much to be gained by concluding that such mischaracterization and demonization means realities and actualities

Even if such conclusion is in part or in whole unwarranted.

Moreover.

There is as much to be gained by disseminating scripts that mischaracterize and demonize sides as mischaracterizing and demonizing

Even if such scripts blatantly further agendas that advance interests of sides.

Such that.

Insofar as all sides are profoundly incented to distort realities in order to further agendas that advance interests of sides

Insofar as no tangible reality meaningfully deprives sides of the wherewithal to flagrantly distort realities in order to further agendas that advance interests of sides

It is unlikely that any side

Legitimately embodies honesty and integrity

Much less to a degree deserving of honor

Including honors high and especially honors noble

Of Pretzel Land and beyond.

- M.

In Ignorance We Stand

There is much that is vitally important to vivo et liber that is being grossly overwhelmed by the sludge that is the ridiculous and impotent civics experiment raging in this ridiculously self importance bombasting neck of the woods.

Nevertheless...

Despite exceptionally keen aspirations for any fate but trudging through ceaseless morasses of excrement fueled ignorance...

Let's cut through the bullshit and recognize the truth...

In Ignorance We Stand

Apparently...

Somewhere between public and private education and somewhen between undergraduate and graduate matriculation...

We lost sight of the real world.

Instead we prattle about democracy as if the amorphous happily ever after oft aspired by drab fairy tale heroes and heroines is indeed our democracy.

Needless to say, let's leave the yellow brick road...

(Verily the longer we tread a road within a reality fabricated by a wizard behind a curtain - the further from reality we inevitably diverge.)

Because reality is here.

Where democracy is as democratic as processed garbage is 'nutritious' per deem by processed garbage makers. Which is to say: no amount of deeming democracy democratic makes democracy democratic in the real world.

*

Howsiwhatsits?

*

Democracy is vaunted because we assume that idealized democracy is real democracy.

Despite ideals never being real...

(Hence the indisputable difference between the two - in reality and by definition.)

Somehow we believe our idealized democracy is.

As if our democracy and our democracy alone, among all permutations of governances of societies across time immemorial, is inviolably impervious to any and all human errors and frailties.

Period.

(Despite the reality, that, much like idealized communism, idealized democracy is no more immune from real greed for money, wealth, power, and influence than any ideal institution of any human kind any where any when.) 

*

Even when purportedly 'democratic' realities are patently not democratic...

If enough institutions and surrogates and whomevers bluster and bombast otherwise...

It's nigh impossible to ignore the bullhorns that corral the herds into pledging allegiance to ignorance in outright defiance of the

TRUTH.

*

Remember:

The Power of Peaceful Dissent (tvfs)?

Armchair Nuggets from the Sidelines (tvfs)?

and every post since (tvfs)?

*

Alas...

We are relentlessly bombarded and vigorously assaulted by every asshat from here to Oz...

With attestations that purportedly 'democratic' realities are democratic by mere virtue of deem so.

As if... wearing asses for hats confers irrefutable authorities and unconditional expertises regarding what constitutes real democracies in the real world otherwise impossible to ascertain from wearing our own minds unblinded by ignorance, untethered by intolerance, and unobfuscated by conflicts of pecuniary interest.

*

Needless to say...

This persistent propaganda, for lack of a better word, is not only ridiculous as presumptive...

(Surely only presumptions of our collective stupidity warrant such dissemination of inanity.)

This persistent propaganda, is incontrovertibly contrary to the unequivocal missive of a society that richly and meaningfully values and empowers its citizens...

To be free to be well informed...

To be free to think...

To be free to act...

Within the confines of the laws of our land.

(Notwithstanding the freedom to be unsubjected as a whole to misinformation and distortion of realities and truths by institutions and surrogates who appoint themselves as establishments of veracious information and honest knowledge by no qualification whatsoever beyond mere deem so. Not least of whom are professed liars of industries renown for obfuscating truths pursuant to agendas of self interest and greed.)

*

The truth?

Insofar as there are no real tangible penalties for warping democracy to further self interest and greed...

(Especially insofar as self interest and greed serve the interests of institutions and surrogates who profiteer from exploitation at the expense of all... for the few.)

This is how democracies function in the real world... including our own.

For every good ostensibly effected by laws of the land...

Countermandates are also effected by laws of the land...

Because the freedom to exercise self interest and pursue greed, comes at a price:

... mutuus et aequum for all... for the few.

More

This isn't a civics lesson on the intricate workings of democracies.

Why not?

Because we don't need civics lessons to understand human nature.

Insofar as all of us understand human nature...

Surely all of us recognize that those who can manipulate democracies to further their agendas of self interest and greed do.

Including... by the most popular means of all...

Promises, promises, promises... reneged for greed, greed, greed.

Time and time and time again.

Surely all of us realize that those who can manipulate democracies to further their agendas of self interest and greed with impunity...

Will continue to do so...

Until we cease taking promise givers at their word...

(As if persistently clinging to naivete... assures the words of promise givers and assures the promises of promise givers... despite the testimony of reality itself.)

And hold promise givers accountable.... for not putting our interests ahead of their own... and our good ahead of their greed.

PERIOD.

- M.

See also:

Promises, Promises, Promises (tvfs)

Turnabout of Honesty (tvfs)

Choosing Sides Is Choosing War (tvfs)

For The Win (tvfs)

etc.

For The Win

When winning is all that matters -

what - do we ultimately - win?

Moreover - is winning worth it -

when what we lose in the trade off -

is worth far more?

But winning is everything.

Everything that's promised and more.

In exchange - our very souls -

that - as ephemera - are worth no gleam of gold.

*

For The Win

Once upon a time, there were two rocks. Unglamorous indeed, these rocks were no different than other rocks. Utterly ordinary in every way, these rocks pined for more.

Glum and bitter with life that promised nothing, they yearned desperately for a gift from a power greater than they. They pleaded beseechingly for a promise from a power darker than they. Something more than the humble miser of rocks, they begged.

So their dreams were answered.

So they found themselves alive anew.

With a catch.

This life anew was a game and to the winner the spoils.

*

So she plotted. Mindfully. Meticulously. Vices private perpetually masqued to eliminate any risk to her myth of epic fabrication. Desperate to win the game, she stopped at nothing.

So he plotted. Recklessly. Ruthlessly. Vices public endlessly paraded as testaments of his vapid meaningless transparency. Desperate to win the game, he stopped at nothing.

Of course.

What's a game with only two players?

Other players flexed their influence to tip the odds, this way and that. Cashing in bets and nursing losses, with each turn of the wheel of artifice. The game extraordinarily entertaining and immeasurably profitable, to gamblers and rakers and bystanders, alike.

While she planned, every point and counterpoint, to the letter.

While he anticipated, every action and counteraction, to the tee.

In a dance woven by complicit greed and tacit collusion and intricate steps of forged integrity.

*

Until.

They were reminded.

Of the little matter of details.

For their prayers were not answered with a gift from a power greater than they.

Nor with a promise from a power darker than they.

Rather, their dreams were answered with a game.

*

While they exerted and toiled within the game that swore spoils untold more glorious than the tallest tales of suns who were rocks once, eons ago -

The real game was engaged like the first step of a long journey that one inexorably forgets, miles into aching effort and torturous endeavor.

Thus the real game paused the ungame. The illusion of authentic pursuit. To remind the rocks and the players. Of the little matter of the real game.

The rules.

The price.

The prize.

The win.

*

Though the ungame roiled and broiled with boisterously vivacious vigor. Captivating in every way. Compelling in every measure. Enthralling with every dizzying spinning reality.

The real game advanced like the implacable pendulum of a grandfather clock whose every intonation reverberates through the bare foundation of modesty. Like the relentless clank and whir of a paternoster whose perpetual circulation echoes the predictability of circus ever.

For in the end. No one escapes the real game.

For in the end. There is only one game.

Author's Note

Beware the game.

That in the enticing thrill of diversion, the real game is not lost.

- the author (a m)

*

Addendum

What if -

We who believe we are bystanders -

- are gamblers and rakers?

That as side choosers, we gamble. That as mud slingers, we rake.

What if -

We eschewed the game we've bought into -

- and embraced the real game?

That epic fabrication peddlers sell myths of pretension that we buy. That vapid transparency hucksters sell masques of illusion that we buy.

Will you - 

- with me -

- unplug from the fever of war-

- and choose indeed - truth and peace?

- M.

*

Further

Echo and Narcissus (from Ovid's Metamorphoses) (readable summary @ Shmoop; Kline's translation here, from the library @ The University of Virginia)

Choosing Sides Is Choosing War

There is only one side.

Therefore those who divide us into sides -

Repudiate the truth of one side -

For the lie of war.

Choosing Sides Is Choosing War

*

Though I have been exploited - many times over -

I am not for the side of the misused.

Though I am no saint - by any stretch of generosity, whatsoever -

I am not for the side of the errant.

*

Why?

Because peace matters more.

More than persuasive reason and emotional appeal.

More than entitlement and privilege.

More than the sake of one side over the other.

More than right and wrong and which side is which.

Because -

War never actuates peace.

*

Lest we find our selves a hair's breadth away from barbarism -

Let's reconsider sides -

Lest we find our selves plunging into the determinism of nihilism -

Let's reconsider divisiveness -

Lest we find ourselves hurtling towards the certain devastation of mutual assured destruction -

Let's reconsider war -

*

By whatever shred of dignity remains within the mettle of human kind -

Despite all that we have wrought -

Upon all -

Let's find something to hold fast -

Abreast this tumult of wretched depravity -

This corrupt wasteland of self anointed -

Upon platforms girded by astounding hubris.

*

For me -

That something is truth above all.

In lesser measure -

That something is also - hope and trust and faith -

That truth will prevail - that justice will prevail -

In merciful measure -

Semper et perpetuum.

*

For all -

Lest the temptation to champion crusades of fanatic adherence to extremism -

Beckon like sirens whose promises swell forth, beguiling and irresistible -

The compelling temptation to mete 'justice' with brutal fervor -

Is savagely indifferent to peace for all.

*

There is no truth -

There is no justice -

Without mutuus et aequum -

Without vivo et liber -

*

Such that truths sans mutuus et aequum, vivo et liber -

Are lies and fictions - myths and artifice.

Such that justice sans mutuus et aequum, vivo et liber -

Is tyranny and injustice - totalitarianism and despotism.

*

Verily - experiences of exploitation and mistreatment -

Confer no special dispensation of automatic authenticity or inviolable credibility - 

Regardless of whether the misused avow one side, as the side of the unassailable -  

While the other is vehemently denounced as that of the accused reprobate.

Verily - approximate sainthood or lack thereof -

Confer no unequivocal legitimacy or illegitimacy - 

Regardless of whether the unimpeachable proclaim one side, as the side of the infallible -

While the other is vociferously condemned as that of the deplored profligate.

*

In the end:

Sides are not the truth.

Sides are arbitrary positions -

That we condone -

That we sanctify -

To justify and defend - divisiveness and war and discord and conflict -

On the basis of sides -

Rather than truth and justice.

*

Verily:

Truth and justice - are indiscriminate - with respect to sides.

Verily:

Every side for sides -

Is neither for truth nor for justice.

Every side for sides -

Is for war.

*

Insofar as war deprives all of mutuus et aequum, vivo et liber -

War advances no truth and furthers no justice.

Insofar as war advances no truth and furthers no justice -

War actuates no peace.

Insofar as war actuates no peace -

War actuates narcissism.

Whereby endemic solipsism and virulent fanaticism -

In the name of me me me and my side over them them them and their side -

Stand for war against peace for all. 

More

Every one is choosing sides.

Here, there, every where. Now, then, every when.

Because this battle. Because that war.

Advances this platform. Furthers that position.

Uplifts the miserable here. Elevates the tragic there.

But -

In the clamor of bombast and vitriol -

Will truth prevail?

Will justice prevail?

If no one chooses the truth?

- M.

*

Addendum

In our zeal for 'justice', we determine guilt and innocence. Often sans the whole truth. Often per 'sides'.

Even though the whole truth often inconveniently illuminates how imperfectly human all of us are, regardless of 'side'.

Which is the point of the whole truth.

Because partial truths invariably skew our perspectives vis a vis different lens, that differ based on which truths are known and which truths are omitted or obscured (i.e. vis a vis context and nuance), for example -

Such that partial truths inexorably evolve (or devolve) into lies, fictions, myths, artifice, etc. -

That all too often serve agendas (of entitlement and privilege, for example).

We further judge human intersections and execute justice. Per nothing less than our qualifications of fairness and infallibility. Often sans credence. Often per 'sides'.

Except, insofar, as our credence is self conferred per self conceit.

Which is no credence, at all.

Moreover:

When we choose 'sides', and subsequently determine guilt and innocence, based solely on 'sides' -

When we choose 'sides', and subsequently judge each other and mete justice, based solely on 'sides' -

Rather than acknowledge -

THE TRUTH -

That - we do not know the whole truth.

That - we are not infallible.

We vehemently insist our truth is the only truth and vociferously demand our justice as the only justice.

As if -

The right to do so is ours and ours alone.

Because - we ourselves have been exploited and misused.

Because - we ourselves have inexpiably erred.

Because - our experiences are the only experiences that matter.

Much like our truths are the only truths that matter.

Much like our justice is the only justice that matters.

As if -

We and we alone - are the measure of truth and justice - for all.

Even as - we obstreperously object - to measures of truth and justice by mobs of vigilantism - when justice is exacted against us and truths are exposed against us - by mobs of vigilantism that are not our own.

Such that -

Even truths -

Even justice -

- are manipulated, distorted, perverted - to serve agendas - of others as well as our own.

*

Which begs the question -

Does such zeal for justice really serve truth and justice - much less us?

Or does our thirst for truths that are facilely manipulated and effortlessly distorted - as well as our appetite for justice that is guilefully perverted - serve other agendas as conveniently as those that are ostensibly ours?

*

So long as scripts are written - scripts serve agendas.

Such that - scripts of demands for 'justice' by mobs of vigilantism - serve agendas, too.

Not unlike - scripts of side mongering that pit 'sides' against each other like entertainers in rigged wrestling dramas.

So:

What agendas are served by all the scripts aforementioned?

Surely the crows who feast on war profiteering - at our expense, no less - are not wholly idle, to leave their fattening to chance.

Especially when our expense is eagerly and wholeheartedly contributed in service to agendas of our own.

- M.

Turnabout of Honesty

Beyond fabrications of fantasy...

Turnabout of Honesty

In the wake of recent furor... although, let's be honest, this furor is hardly novel, much less recent, with respect to virtually identical situations and contexts, now, then, and every when...

Let's talk about sex.

*

Not our public position on sex.

Our private.

Because our public position on sex is dominated by flights of fancy.

While our private is real.

*

Indeed:

Our public position is dutifully washed in consent and mutuality and respect.

And further hallowed by meaningful relationships and love and responsible decision making.

But surely we're not as naive as that?

Moreover, surely we're not as gullible as that to believe such naivete as that?

Especially:

In this age of prostitution and pornography as 'art', as 'music', as 'drama', as 'advertising', as 'social media', as 'entertainment', as 'news', etc.

That has furthermore been every age of time immemorial and will likely be every age of the future.

*

Verily:

Prostitution and pornography is sex for sale and isn't sex what is bought and sold vis a vis prostitution and pornography as 'art', 'music', 'drama', 'advertising', 'social media', 'entertainment', 'news', etc.?

In the end, does it matter why we buy and sell sex?

Isn't sex for sale, still sex for sale, regardless?

*

Notwithstanding:

If art imitates life...

... doesn't it stand to reason that the sex we're buying and selling is not 'art', 'music', 'drama', 'advertising', 'social media', 'entertainment', 'news', etc. per se...

... so much as dignifying sex for sale by relocating the platform and the context from which we buy and sell sex... from reality to fiction... (despite the blatant artificiality of such relocation)?

... whereby we legitimize buying and selling sex, via arbitrary determinations of acceptability (i.e. acceptability of prostitution and pornography vis a vis fiction as art versus unacceptability of prostitution and pornography vis a vis tangible realities, per se)...

... and perpetuate the delusion that sex for sale therefore does not exist as tangible realities in the real world, except insofar as sex for sale only exists as fiction as art?

(Or, at the very least, neither as pervasively nor as blatantly, as vis a vis 'art', 'music', 'drama', 'advertising', 'social media', 'entertainment', 'news', etc.)

*

Surely, only those of us raised as groundhogs in burrows believe such tales spun from aether.

Yet, despite the vast majority of us having not been raised as groundhogs in borrows, we vehemently repudiate realities that are not only our own, but have been our own across time immemorial.

Needless to say:

Our wherewithal to manufacture 'realities' and 'truths' to advance our agendas (which are varied, when it comes to sex for sale), is convenient indeed...

... even as the vast majority of us have never been raised as groundhogs in burrows... ever...

... even as reality is still reality... regardless of where some of us patently live.

*

The reality?

It is far more likely that prostitution and pornography thrive as pervasively as prostitution and pornography as 'art', 'music', 'drama', 'advertising', 'social media', 'entertainment', 'news', etc.

It is also far more likely that this reality is obfuscated to satisfy agendas that benefit from both the reality that prostitution and pornography flourishes tangibly in the real world and the delusion that relocating prostitution and pornography to 'art', 'music', 'drama', 'advertising', 'social media', 'entertainment', 'news', etc. legitimately dignifies buying and selling sex.

Thus:

It is far more likely that our public position on prostitution and pornography differs vastly from our private.

Otherwise:

How could buying and selling sex be as extraordinarily profitable as it is?

When our public positions vociferously glorify consent and mutuality and respect and hallow meaningful relationships and love and responsible decision making...

When we conspicuously buy and sell sex en masse as consumables vis a vis 'art', 'music', 'drama', 'advertising', 'social media', 'entertainment', 'news', etc...

When we furtively buy and sell sex en masse as consumables vis a vis tangible realities in the real world...

How could the truth be anything but ?

*

Needless to say:

This disconnect between testified public positions and the enormous profitability of buying and selling sex reflects a blatantly endemic hypocrisy between words and actions that intractably impairs our ability to meaningfully resolve issues of sex across societies.

Until we're honest about buying and selling sex...

... we will continue to bombast incoherent vitriol with reckless indifference to the truth of sex.

*

The truth?

Irrespective of our public positions of consent and mutuality and respect, revered per the appropriated virtue of groundhogs raised in burrows...

Irrespective of our meaningful relationships and loves and responsible decision making, exalted and honored per the dignity of delusions...

Prostitution and pornography, from tangible realities to 'art', 'music', 'drama', 'advertising', 'social media', 'entertainment', 'news', etc...

... without us... who would sell sex?

... without us... who would buy sex?

... without us... who would profit from both?

*

Are we really that gullible?

That we believe that prostitution and pornography are but insignificant aberrations eking within the fringes of human societies?

Are we really that misguided?

That we insist that propaganda crafted from pretenses of virtue and facades of dignity, are ideal public positions of sex to be espoused by one and all?

Are we really that self indulgent?

That we condone the legitimacy of avowing public positions of sex that are illusions of self serving artifice, while concealing private positions that fuel the indisputable profitability of sex for sale?

*

Surely:

We could be honest and reject the lies we ceaselessly perpetuate about sex and sex for sale.

Surely:

That we neither do nor have, is a testament to truths that far too many of us deny.

More

How we buy and sell sex is not always obvious.

That we do is.

In so many ways that defy belief, all of us do.

*

Which is not to revile or defend...

... sex; or sex for sale; or prostitution; or pornography; or prostitution and pornography as 'art', 'music', 'drama', 'advertising', 'social media', 'entertainment', 'news', etc.

Rather...

... to illustrate the blatant incoherence of our incomprehensible obsession with reviling or defending...

... that which we are unwilling to face the truth of.

*

Such that...

... revilement and defense, with respect to instances of sex, sex for sale, prostitution, pornography, etc., is less about interests of good or vice per se, than interests of agendas, including greed (as opposed to professed interests of nobility).

Such that...

... insofar as revilement and defense furthers interests, revilement and defense are tools of agendas to further interests including greed for money, power, wealth, influence, etc.

* 

Needless to say, unlike lies, the truth serves no agenda of any interest, except the truth.

And, like all truths, this truth cuts both ways.

*

Addendum

There was a time, that many have forgotten, when looking upon the visage of one of a different class (or status), different gender, different religion, different nation (or ethnic ancestry)...

... was punishable by death.

Yet.

We evolved.

We acknowledged human frailty and human error.

We embraced compassion for our fellow human kind and understanding of whole truths.

Such that, we recognized that such punishment was indeed: Draconian and cruel. Vile and extreme. Unjust and merciless.

Yet.

Here we are.

Seeking the death of one another, literally and materially.

That we justify and legitimize by nothing more than our righteousness and our dignity.

As if, our righteousness is unequivocally always right. As if our dignity is inviolably always sacrosanct. As if, by virtue of both, we and we alone, are sufficiently and eminently qualified to appoint our selves: judges, juries, and executioners of justice.

Moreover.

Here we are.

Lest one of us possess the unbelievable nerve to defy such justice by ostensible consensus of mobs...

... the nerved one, the defiant one is cast as deserving of the same justice meted to the one for whom we seek death...

... as if, non compliance and non conformity too, are punishable by death; so too, dissent and refusal to acquiesce and accede...

... regardless of absence of actions that reasonably warrant penalties of death....

... such that, looking as though non compliant, looking as though non conforming, looking as though dissenting, looking as though refusing to acquiesce and accede...

... are all as deserving of the same justice as the one for whom death as punishment is justified and legitimized by nothing more than our self appointment as judges, juries, and executioners of justice...

... as if, our self appointment is irrefutable; as if, our fitness to determine guilt and innocence is unassailable; as if our knowledge of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is infallible.

Thus.

Justice evolves (verily, devolves) into injustice. Draconian and cruel. Vile and extreme. Unjust and merciless.

Thus.

Our hands devolve into weapons of tyranny with which we exact absolutism and effect fatalism, armed with swords and pens empowered by viciousness to execute all who stand in the way of our justice which is but tyranny of vigilantism masquerading as righteousness and dignity.

And, by doing so...

... we inexorably rob ourselves of true righteousness and real dignity in every kingdom of Good.

Such that...

... the mighty who have fallen are none other than us.

- M. 

Promises, Promises, Promises

Words are just words, aren't they?

Promises, Promises, Promises

*

Let's play a game.

A game called reality.

Where the true value of promises, is nothing.

Where the true value of words, is nothing.

Truly, this game is reality.

*

Oh, but wait, you say. Quick to rush to the defense of our word, so precious, so true.

Promises are expressed intentions.

That represent our desire to keep our word, especially when our promises are good and virtuous.

*

Then, what are promises that are empty?

Yea defender of words. Promises that are glib and appealing and oh so satisfying. With just the right balance of fabricated authenticity to sweep my heart of its strings. Like a recipe from The Book of Liars to sweet talk the liberated into parting with freedom. 

What about those promises?

*

That's obvious of course! Those promises are deceptions, ruses, cons!

And, wait, you continue.

Those promises are not all promises!

Some promises are sincere and genuine, you insist!

Your desperation to convince me, so palpable, so earnest. For it can't be true, that promises are nothing. For you promise me that our promise is everything.

*

How, dear friend, are promises distinguished from each other, that wear the same cloak of masque?

Notwithstanding, does such distinguishment, matter?

Because, at the end of the day, a promise is a promise.

A promise is not an act. Much less a certitude.

*

But, do bear with me, you plead.

A promise is an act. An act of intention. An act of desire. An act of wish.

Doesn't that mean something? Isn't that worth something? Doesn't that matter?

Or, are you dear bitch, as cold hearted as that?

So you sneer from upon your throne of self righteousness.

*

Oh dear, oh my, should I reconsider?

And why, oh why, would I?

For promises are promises and nothing more. Not here. Not now. Not ever have promises been more than words.

Oh spare me, your saccharine nothings that dissipate into smoke and mirrors in the light of exposure.

*

Then, how, can you be persuaded, if not but by promises?

For surely, you imply, our word, so good, so valiant, so true, to be hypocrisies!

How utterly intolerable, you spew vile self sanctimony with unrestrained vigor.

For isn't my word, good enough? Isn't my promise, good enough?

Who are you, for whom, no word is good enough?!

*

Ah, therein is the blind tryst of cooperative societies. Of promises as handshakes and promises as contracts and promises as inviolabilities, that liaison so engagingly with our desires so potent, our interests so conspicuous, our demands so facilely discerned by promise givers.

For though words are not good enough for me, verily, any word is good enough for you.

For whom words are as easy as toys that are broken with casual indifference to the burden of toil and the preciousness of play. For whom words are as easy as breathing in toxic ignorance and breathing out vicious intolerance.

Alas, so sinuous the truth of letters that nestle like friends of ever, that together, are something more than alone. Although what exactly is unclear.

*

You beriddle me! You baffle me! What nonsense, you protest. What incomprehensible balderdash, you sputter.

Promises are what I deliver! For I deliver on my promises!

This is my truth. This is my promise. That to defend my promise is to deliver!

*

I would expect nothing less from adherents of the New Religion of Old Lies. So devoted. So zealous. So ardent in our passion for promises, promises, promises.

But surely, we realize, that deliverers of empty promises are also deliverers of boxes upon boxes and reams upon reams of realities and truths fabricated from the thin aether of convenient fictions spun and spun and spun until, lo and behold, all of us are gifted with finery as fine as that of the Emperor whose new clothes are divine indeed.

That spots no more fall from leopards than stripes from zebras.

Such that to believe such miracles of spun honesty as pure as driven snow requires deliberate naivete in the face of tangible disintegrities.

*

But.

If you don't believe my promises, our promises, our good intentions...

What more can I do?

If you don't trust my words, our thoughts, our heartfelt sentiments...

What more can I say?

*

Oh but you've said and done quite enough already! Actions that speak louder than words, are also words uttered to sweep my heart from its strings. Thus, polished response, career answer, grandiose pander, eye watering boast, tell tale bombast, are actions too, one and all.

Indeed.

It is not extraordinarily difficult to examine attested actions and avowed characters against truths of patent intentions and blatant interests of all who weave lies like tailors of music and symphony and puppeteers of drama and circus to bamboozle the keen of spectacle with stale crackers foisted upon automatons of apathy.

Still.

Some of us refuse to blow past the the smoke and break through the mirrors and throw open the doors to the walls of our minds.

To see what is there to see for all willing to face the game.

fin

More (I)

Perhaps, it's not the game, but the players.

Perhaps, the game is never about the game and always about the players.

*

Then why do we affect affronted surprise when players don't play by the rules?

Are we really so naive that we believe that such 'affronted surprise' is genuine when players never play by the rules?

As if:

Always playing by the rules is The Reality for All.

As if:

You always play by the rules in reality.

*

This game is reality.

In the real world, money and power and wealth and influence, buys out of the game the many play and buys into the game the few play.

In other words:

What if the real game, is bought into by money and power and wealth and influence?

Then:

What game are we playing?

This game that we can't buy out of?

*

Surely it's worth asking your self:

Are you certain that the game you buy into with your self - is the game the few are playing with money and power and wealth and influence?

If you had money and power and wealth and influence - what game would you play?

The one you could buy into or the one you could buy out of?

*

More (II)

It's convenient to cherry pick words.

Haven't we all uttered words that in black and white, look far worse than are in reality?

Words we didn't mean, like: I hate you.

Words we meant at the time, like: I hate you.

Words we immediately regretted, like: I hate you.

Words we knew were unforgivable, like: I hate you.

Words we apologized for, like: I hate you.

Indeed, we've all said such words. To our caregivers when we were denied a treat or a toy. To our partners when we were denied understanding or compassion. To our friends who told us what we didn't want to hear. To our coworkers who covered their assess by throwing ours to the wolves. To strangers who attributed wrongs to us by labels they believed we owned.

Nevertheless, though we've all uttered hateful speech of one sort or another, we're all too willing to hurl boulders from our glass houses towards all whose hateful speech is exposed to the light of black and white media (including social, entertainment, advertising, and of course, news).

Even as our own hateful speech remains hidden in the convenient fog of our we don't recall.

Do you? Do you really not recall? That you are no better nor no worse than all of us? Human. Who errs. Human. Who fumbles with dignity and virtue. Human. Who flips scripts of avarice for power into crusades of nobility. Human. Whose ego hoists self upon towering pedestal of idol worship supported by ballasts of self righteousness and self sanctimony.

As if. Some of us are better than all of us. Especially the all of us who are imperfect, struggling to make it in the real world.

It's so easy to vilify words that are cherry picked.

But it's far more satisfying to see words for what they really are.

Promises, promises, promises.

That sell realities and truths that are hardly real, much less true.

- M.