The Power of Truth Telling

The Armchair Curmudgeon

News&Views

May 7, 2007



Truth Telling Can Become Contagious!



In Cambodia, you could get killed for wearing glasses. That meant you were likely to be an intellectual and that was enough to get you killed. In Saudi Arabia, telling the truth can get you put away for a long time; In Russia, truth-telling is a short cut to assassination. In much of the world, telling the truth can get you into trouble.



What amazes me that in America—where you can tell the truth—so many of our leaders and media icons fail to do it…



I guess it all goes back to what drives you…





It was indeed hard for someone of my generation to turn all of my beliefs on their head.

We grew up in the wake of the Second World War when there was real tangible heroes, not that new ones aren’t being made every day—but not among our elected officials or those we consider our ablest citizens—the prophets and others who seem to relish in telling the rest of us what to do . Oh, no, today these heroes are being formed the same way the old ones were, they are standing up to enemy fire.



For the most part, they are not the ‘rich or famous,’ they are the average “Joe’s” and “Jane’s” They are not looking for fancy medals, they just want to go to college, get ahead in the world and before that, return home safe and sound.



When I was of war age, I never recall anyone needing to tell me who was a patriot and who was not. All I had to do was look. My dad was a hero to me. He had joined the First World War at 14 and served with the Black Watch. Later, he joined the Air Force, And then wound up in a hospital for a year because of wounds. Immediately, after getting out, he tried to join the Mounties but he was too smashed up. Later, he came to the USA and tried to join the Army, the Navy anyone who would have him when it was clear that Hitler was not going to be happy until he started a war. He was too old and in too bad shape to pass the physical then so he did what he could as an electrician at the Brooklyn Navy yard building Liberty Boats for the war effort. Yes, he was hero who stood up!...



I believed my father and I believed my icons.

But I saw them virtually all either disappear or die off.



Today, I choose to believe nothing I read in the papers—including the New York Times and the Washington Post. I believe they have all sold out. I don’t believe what I hear on the Networks and am sure that Katie shouldn’t have given up her day job. I don’t believe much of what I see on Sixty Minutes or hear on CNN.

I believe that Lou Dobbs believes what he is saying, but we don’t agree on many things although he’s closer to man of character than many who claim to be committed to honest ad fair reporting. I don’t believe in Novak but then again I never believed him even when he was teamed up with Evans. I don’t believe in half of the team that told the truth about Nixon; he is now more locked into making a profit then being straight with us.. I think Brooks is an apologist for the Times and the Wall Street Journal begins from a biased position.



I liked MacNeal but I find Lehrer deadly and forgive me if I have trouble with his notion of fair and balanced. They will never hold a candle to Walter Lippmann who told it like it was.



There are very few things that I can believe in anymore. Sometimes I can understand how Woody Alan must have felt in Sleeper coming out of a long induced sleep to discover nothing is like it really is or was.



We have already discovered that the foods you are supposed to eat can kill you if you’re not careful and only a step away from apple pie being good for you.



In fact, the movie anticipated the truth since advances have been made by Mars & Co in producing a kind of chocolate that has medicinal value.



I am sure that most of the other things we have told are gospel will be proven false as we go forward.



I do believe in Global Warming but believed that since I first saw the series HEAT on PBS back in the 80’s. (I eventually decided to write a book about it.)



I do believe that keeping active keeps you going and you are a damned fool if you let your little aches ad pains get the best of you.



I do believe that we have a critical responsibility for getting at the truth and letting everyone you know share in that truth.



I also like being at the age when somebody can call me a trouble-maker or a pain in the ass, which usually gives me a good chuckle because I don’t give a hoot!....because I’ve been emancipated from listening to the garbage mutterings of so many of the younger and older generation.



Someone asked me the other day why I don’t choose to run for office. I countered by asking her how many want a politician who is going to tell you what you don’t want to hear.



It feels good to speak your mind and I would recommend it.



When I was young, I was always too busy doing something—mostly earning enough to put a roof over our head and a hot meal on the table—to think much about stuff like demanding the truth from those who hold power of us.



No more!



I suggest whether you are young or an old codger like me, that you give it a try.



You might just like it.



Les Aaron

The Armchair Curmudgeon


The Armchair Curmudgeon

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