We are constantly exposed to
deception and deceit. Perhaps we are so used to being bluffed, that we more or
less ignore it. That’s actually a good thing, as it would otherwise drive us
crazy. Deception is the act of spreading beliefs about issues that are not true; the softer term is: bending the truth.
These half-truths and omissions are also known as dissimulation, propaganda,
concealment, or as I call it: deliberate misguidance. No matter how we
slice it, deception is rarely a nice thing, because it foremost insults our
intelligence, and we are really not that stupid.
When somebody deceives us we more so
register it as we are being lied to. Lying is making up information that for
the most part is opposite or different from the truth – very much like
deception, duh. Dishonesty comes to mind, along with fraud, misrepresentation,
lack of trust, disrespect and other lovely transgressions; what I’m concerned ‘spinelessness’ is another good name for
it.
We really don’t like being deceived
or lied to; it is such an ill-mannered notion. Betrayal ruins trust, and we
must more so try to trust each other in all aspects of our lives together. But deceit is an unfortunate part of
communicating by many (but not you and I, of course…)
And it’s not just what we say in that respect, but also with what
we do not say. Concealment, as in omitting information that is important or vital
concerning reaching the truth or any shade of reality, is as big as a lie. Concealing, as with lying and
deceiving, is perhaps even more disrespectful (Yuk!)
Exaggerations and understatements
are also tools used to avoid the truth, and I’m more than willing to place
these actions on the list of betrayal, disrespect and dishonesty, as well. And
we are unfortunately exposed to these ‘not-the-whole-truth’ issues daily –
seriously.
The beef I have with dishonesty,
deceit, whatever label you want to apply, are that it’s all done purposely,
deliberately and with the precise knowledge and plan to conduct betrayal. It
can be the small daily-deceits we tend to ignore, or the huge scams of milking
people out of their money and property (Madoff’s billions of dollars Ponzi
scheme, is a glaring example). But whatever the size of the deceit, they all come from the same mold.
I was driving behind a Safeway van (‘lorry’
for some readers) the other day. It said in huge letters FREE DELIVERY. So I read this and went WOW (I do the WOW thing a lot); I can buy groceries from
Safeway on-line and get the order delivered for free. I believed that up to the
point where I was close enough to the back of the van/lorry, from where I could barely read the very small writing underneath: on
the first order. Sure Safeway can comfortably utter
that they are NOT trying to deceive and/or mislead, but reality is that they
obviously wrote it that way to conceal how the so-called free deliveries would
work after the first order. I call that: intentional
deceit.
We see the same on all kinds of food
labels. The ice cream carton tells me something about 140 calories. Okay, I’m
not totally dim as I realize (duh) that this 5 gallon bucket of caramel,
cookie-dough and chocolate chip ice cream would be a tad more than 140
calories, otherwise I wouldn’t eat anything else – ever, and would be
pleasantly slim in the process– right? But it says 140 calories per serving. I can swing with that, until I realize
that a serving is not much more than ¼
cup (or less). Now, who the heck would eat a portion that size? Why even
bother?
So if I’m not totally off track, eating
ice cream as any normal person, I would no doubt inhale more than 50 million
calories in one sitting (being my favorite ice cream), with no clue about how
many bloody servings it takes. My eloquent point is that it is deceit and
concealment of reality and purposely presented as such. ‘Oh, only 140
calories’, is a normal response – let’s dive in. But servings are set (no laws
here?) so small (on purpose & to deceive) to show a low calorie count, and done
so to deliberately give us a false picture and hope, of what reality really is.
When we look around in everyday
life, acknowledging these pretend information panels, we quickly understand
that deceit is running rampant, as in all over the place. Sure suppliers,
manufactures, etc. can cover behind rules of this and that, but that is not the
point, because they still purposely, deliberately and somewhat successfully
misrepresent reality – and to me, reality eating ice cream does not include the
term ¼ cup serving at all.
Sodas are for the most part 12 fluid
ounces. Most sodas show about 21 grams of sugar, more or less – that in itself
is a lot of sugar. But then we realize that it’s per serving. Did you know that a can of soda normally holds two
servings, therefor 42 grams of sugar instead of ‘just 21’? But, ‘yes’, 21 sounds a lot better. The question is: who
the heck drinks half a can of soda, puts the other half in the fridge to be enjoyed
another day? I don’t know anybody who would do that. A can of soda is pretty
much inhaled in one sitting (including all 42 grams of sugar), finished with a
large burp and done with; that’s reality (in most cases without the silly
‘burp’ thing). It’s ‘lawful’ deception, that’s what it is.
And don’t get me started with the
smaller size of people standing next to advertised cars, simply to make the
cars look bigger than reality. Not all ads, but many. Watch for it the next time you are
looking – really; the sad thing is that it's bloody obvious.
Of course, the area where deception
and betrayal is inter-personal, we are talking about levels that are
disturbing, sad and emotional, hurting and utterly disrespectful. That is an
area that is hard to accept, as it’s degrading and ignorantly thoughtless. Sure
we have all gone through some of this crap, but it’s still hard to accept when
exposed to – not something we will ever get used to. We can forgive some of it
to some extent, but it’s the forgetting part that is so utterly hard, if not
impossible to manage.
And that’s a much bigger area to get
involved with, trying to understand and/or explain. Inhaling 42 grams of sugar
is much easier (and our own choice), but being deceived by anybody on a
personal and emotional level is for the most part heart-breaking, confusing and
very sad (sigh).
Many people, producers of any
consumption products and what have you, truly believe that they are good at
deceiving us, good at deception. But I fully believe that this (shallow)
confidence is very misplaced. I know that we are all smarter than that, too
wise to be pulled in, and that we more so laugh at their feeble and innate
belief, that they think that they are so much smarter – because they are not;
but we are – don’t you think?
Now where did I put that 5 gallon
bucket of ice cream? 140 calories? Piece of cake (yeah, that too…)
