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.