I have a great respect for people who are principled and uncompromising in their moral, political and religious positions, whether I agree with them or not, I consider them people of integrity.
Which is why it is deeply disappointing and discouraging when they spread gossip, misinformation, untruths or even boldfaced lies to discredit their proclaimed evil, immoral opponents.
How can such hypocrisy be justified? I understand and often use rationalizations to justify such incongruity. Win at all costs … ends justify the means … whatever it takes … Each of us hold our ground because we believe we are defending truth. As some would proclaim, truth must prevail, whatever the cost.
The problem is that when you decide to win at all costs you forget justice, kindness is a liability, and humility a fatal flaw. Phoenix Preacher
Evil and immorality are self condemning. Adopting evil and immoral tactics to attack evil and immoral opponents is also self-condemning. To employ such a strategy inherently renders us dishonest and unscrupulous. We are no longer restrained by integrity and are free to act without moral restraint.
I accept the possibility that many honestly believe they are spreading truth. However, sometimes it doesn’t seem to matter if an assertion is true. If it helps to defeat the opposition, whether it’s true or not is of no consequence. But, it is of consequence. Each time someone relies on untruths to demean, defeat their opposition, they destroy their integrity and hurt their cause. Of course that’s not an issue if the objective is to destroy not redeem.
A single lie discovered is enough to create doubt in every truth expressed.
In this media dominated age of information overload we must do the hard work of discerning truth before speaking, posting or writing. That is no easy task, but if truth and integrity is important to us, we must. Until we learn to discern truth, perhaps we should adopt my mother’s revised admonition, “If you don’t have something true to say, don’t say anything.”
I believe truth defeats evil. I am not optimistic that we have the courage to pursue truth, regardless of the costs.
The path of least resistance is our GPS default.
Truth is a road less traveled.
We need a Lion.
He [Buddha] tells the story of a hare disturbed by a falling fruit who believes that the earth is coming to an end. The hare starts a stampede among the other animals until a lion halts them, investigates the cause of the panic and restores calm.