Lying, pretending, and power

It's such a clusterfuck. Life.

We get so used to lying. We get so used to pretending. We get so used to trying to be something that we know we are not, down deep, for real.

We get so used to the dishonesty, that we start to believe our own bullshit. We start to believe that we are something we are not, just so we can maintain the pretense. And the hope that it will keep us from being found out.

Power plays an enormous role in this dance of dishonesty that we engage in.

It is the reason that Lord Acton said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Because those who covet it get so wrapped up in their lies and their pretenses, that they become almost inexorably confused about who they really are. We get so wrapped up in the bullshit and the lying and the pretending that we lose track of who we really are.

It is worse among adults than among young people. Because young people see the lies and hypocrisy of adults and know better than to pretend they are being more honest than they are.

It is the most persistent and most difficult to unravel of the legacies of power.

All the lying. And the pretending. And the bullshit. And the ways that it corrupts us and our outlooks on life.

And, in the end, it is what keeps it all in place.

Until it doesn't.

Because people decide that they would rather face the hard truths than keep up the lying.