(ThyBlackMan.com) While playing with my daughter in the park recently, I overheard a parent reprimanding their child for lying. While many will applaud this action as great parenting, in the depths of my mind questions began emerge on why we teach our children characteristics we as a society do not adhere to.
Every aspect of our lives is saturated by lies: our personal relationships, academics, spiritual quests, business endeavors, political governance, and even national holidays derive from lies. America even has dollar stores that sell very few items that are actually a dollar.
RELATIONSHIPS
Dating is a lie. We should create an award show for the performances done during the courting period of a relationship. People are so compassionate, patient, understanding, forgiving, and intriguing, hiding all of their worst traits, vices, and insecurities. Usually upon marriage and having children the blissful journey on Cloud Nine ends and the love-birds are transported back to Earth where the real people are revealed. This revelation usually results in divorce or years of misery and unhappiness, enduring the rigors of an unpleasant union for social acceptance and fear of loneliness. The “divine” union of marriage now has more than a 50% failure rate.
EDUCATION SYSTEM
Despite America’s forced schooling of its youth, the average American is a functionally illiterate and void of critical thinking skills. America’s universities, which have morphed into exclusive country clubs for those with the means to pay the high fees, are producing mindless students whose only goal in life is financial profit and consumption. These institutions are not educating but indoctrinating at a high fee with a sales pitch of employment opportunities and life success upon receiving a degree from a given institution. Numerous 
law schools, such as Albany, Brooklyn, Seton Hall, Chicago-Kent, DePaul, Florida Coastal, Golden Gate, Hofstra, John Marshall, South Western, University of San Francisco, and Widener, have all been accused of falsifying the job placement percentage of their graduates. Students who have obtained law degrees with the help of expensive student loans find employment scarce, despite schools claiming 99% job placement.
RELIGIOUS LEADERS
The Christian church, which is supposed to be the epitome of virtue is filled with occurrences of lies, even from the Pope himself; the vicar of the Earth denying the Vatican’s shady financial business deals. Christian televangelists also deny allegations of financial fraud, extra-marital affairs, drug abuse, and molestation.
AMERICAN HISTORY
The historical presentation of America is a lie that leaves out genocide and theft. Americans celebrate Christopher Columbus with a national holiday essentially celebrating piracy and brutality. Christopher Columbus never set foot on the North American continent; his evil deeds were relegated to the Caribbean islands and the South American continent.
The history taught to Americans is one manufactured to hide America’s imperialist characteristics and, downplay the economic disparity and racial tension that has plagued America since its inception. As anyone with sense must know, you cannot discover a place highly populated for over a thousand years with a sophisticated communal society. The native inhabitants greeted the “discoverers” and helped teach them to survive in the new environment. Americans do not have a clear understanding of the displacement of the indigenous peoples of North America, derogatorily referred to as Indians or Native Americans.
Americans are unaware of the barbaric treatment they received, with the murder of both children and elderly, for the acquisition of lands currently covered with McMansions, corporate offices, sports arenas, and interstate highways. Millions of indigenous people were burned alive, raped, bludgeoned, disemboweled, lynched, shot, and scalped, made refugees in their own land. Ironically the perpetrators were Europeans escaping religious persecution, only to do worse to others than what was done to them. American history books do not refer to the cannibalism that was very prevalent amongst Europeans during their voyage to the New World and upon arrival to North America due to inability to acquire food supplies. America does not acknowledge the importance of slavery (free labor) in the building of the country’s wealth. Nor do America’s history books speak of the systematic disenfranchisement of African Americans.
CHRISTMAS
Christmas is America’s biggest commercial holiday full of let-downs over presents, bragging, envy, and debt. This consumption-based holiday differs immensely from the life of Christ it’s supposed to commemorate. Christians do not want to acknowledge that consumerism is counter to the teachings of Christ. Also the idea of Christmas was never mentioned by Christ nor by anyone in the Bible. Yet churches still celebrate this holiday and teach it to children.
CORPORATE LIES
The corporations Americans depend on for their goods and services have proven to be fabricators whose sole purpose is creating wants instead off fulfilling needs. Media are filled with disturbing stories of deceit by corporations that fail to provide the promised service, which usually affects the finances or the health of the customer. Charles Ponzi, the scammer who was the namesake of the “Ponzi scheme,” has influenced numerous thieves who have stolen billions of dollars from investors. Bernie Madoff was an extravagant liar whose lies were very believable until the money was depleted. The most recent act of deceit is the Volkswagen scandal, in which the company knowingly implemented technology that would deceive emissions testing equipment.
Pharmaceutical companies have a long history of deceitfulness, to the point that their actions have become a staple by comedians making mention of the first commercial promoting the benefits of the drug followed by another commercial recalling the drugs. When companies recall goods do you really think with all the testing done they are unaware of items that will affect the public’s health? Or are they trying to cut cost hoping not to get caught? Companies are also guilty of fabricating scientific evidence to support their marketing tactics. Despite Big Tobacco’s knowledge for decades, the American public was told cigarette smoking was safe. Look at these truths spoke by McDonald’s CEO in 2013:
“We provide high-quality food, we always have. It’s real beef, it’s real chicken, it’s real tomatoes, real lettuce, real fruit, real smoothies, real dairy, real eggs.”
“And we are not marketing food to kids.”
McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson 2013 (Shareholder Meeting)
The news media Americans depends on for their updates and insights are propaganda spreaders misinforming the viewers with the information they believe viewers should have of a particular topic or occurrence.
GOVERNMENT LIES
The government and political figures we are taught to respect and listen to during our youthful years; have mastered the art of lying. Political campaigns are overpriced exhibitions of fabrications. The lies are so paramount the voters are usually unclear of the political views of the candidates they aspire to vote for, due to the sophistication of the tactics used to present the lies. Domestic and international diplomacy is full of lies and deception used to deceive and confuse enemies of the state. One does not have to research long to find case after case where government officials have lied to protect themselves from accusations. Richard Nixon during Watergate, assassination of Fred Hampton, up to the current lies spread about Obamacare. The indigenous tribes of America have received the most lies from the American government, being displaced as their land was illegally captured, only to be displaced again when government officials became aware of the natural resources on the land where they resided.
The U.S. government has a history of lying to the public in regards to their military expeditions. The American public was lied to about the Vietnam War, The Iraq invasion, and the domestic War on Drugs. Since 9/11 the propaganda has been so strong that Americans equate Muslims with violence and terror. Though, ironically Muslims in countries where American soldiers are stationed view Americans as terrorists.
SOCIAL MEDIA LIES
Recently Americans have found a modern virtual reality called social media where the average citizen can partake in their form of daily lies. Numerous photos are posted, with great thought, to manufacture an image one wants the public to have of them. The availability of credit in our capitalistic society makes such actions fairly easy. Car loans, mortgages, and credit cards allow the average American to partake in the lie of the American dream at a low interest rate depending on your credit score.
Why do schools and children’s cartoons still teach children not to lie? Would a sales man be able to make the sale without leaving out some important details that would deter the customer from purchasing a service or item? Could the food industry have such high profits if they were truthful about their production practices and quality of the ingredients used? One can argue corporations and government officials are not lying, only leaving out important information. Though in America’s judicial system such actions would be considered deceitful also categorized as lying.
Can a truthful person climb up the corporate ladder in America? The psychopath executives and entrepreneurs praised in mass media are full-blown liars. This is not a generalization but a fact. Anyone who is truthful and is in a managerial or executive position in corporate America has had to lie or even has been asked by upper management to lie.
Are we doing our children an injustice by teaching them to be honest and truthful in their endeavors? What do you think? Please leave a comment, I am interested in people’s thoughts.
Staff Writer; Linton Hinds Jr.
Official website; http://Livity.info/