Little Lies

It has been so subtle, a process that has taken decades, we didn't even realize it was happening. It has been happening though, and the results have changed the way we feel about lies and lying. It has come to the point where most of the time, we even expect it, accepting it as the norm instead of challenging it. This revelation hit me like a wrecking ball one morning as Ron was pressing a pair of pants. He said, "wrinkle free, yeah, right!"
        

Such a little thing, you say? But think about that and all the other little lies we are spoon fed every single day of our lives. Words and combinations of words are what make up our language. If we become desensitized to the meanings of words, we lose, bit by bit our base line. It is this base line that gives us concrete definitions and foundations for our principles. Redefinitions of even the simplest words can alter whole belief systems. For example, thanks to our president we now have a whole new definition for sex, or should I say, lack of sex. The ramifications to this particular evasive language abuse have only begun to emerge.
        

I'll tell you where I believe it all began. Advertising. It's no secret that lies have been the mainstay of all advertising since the traveling salesmen of colonial days stood and swore the elixir he could provide was the cure all for everything from arthritis to croup. People fell for it then too. We are always eager to believe a cure for what ails us is only a bottle of nasty tasting liquid away. The difference, though, is modern technology and the Information Age. The advent of television was the first big leap to selling huge numbers of lies to huge numbers of people. And the ribbon on the package is slick presentation. I know whereof I speak, in this regard, because I was a contributor to the process when I worked as a commercial photo stylist. I know all the tricks. Let me share.
        

Let's say, for example, you are looking to buy a new comforter for your bed. You find the one you like and you are most certainly enticed by the great photo on the insert card. There's your comforter, lush and thick, pulled off the bed ever so slightly, the sheets rippling in soft folds over the top. The room is inviting, maybe a breeze gently lifting the gauzy window fabric. You want to just dive in, don't you ? You rush home with your new purchase and rip everything off the bed. You spend an hour trying to make it look as thick as the photo. You try everything you can think of to get the flanges on the shams to stand up all perky - like the photo. You do what you can, but it just isn't like - the photo. Guess why. A stylist spent the better part of two days creating that lovely bedroom scene. And it was just a scene, a set in a studio. Some of the tools she used to make it look like a queen's boudoir were: an iron, steamer, tape, pins, more tape, paint cans to prop up the pillows, and batting on the mattress and under the folds to make the bed look "fluffy". She pulled and tugged and pushed and crawled on the floor, pinning and tapping the bedskirt into perfect alignment. She worked back and forth between the set and the camera looking in the view finder so she wouldn't have to waste time styling anything the camera didn't see. And believe me, there is plenty the camera doesn't see.The result of this labor is a perfect set and a perfect lie. Because the truth is, the comforter can never be, in life, the way it is styled for the photo.

The issue here, though, is not about the lie but rather our complacency and acceptance of the lie. All I am asking is, why is this okay? What damage is being done when we allow this to be okay? What values are eroded? Our attitude about what is not true has been slowly evolving to the point where we don't care what is false anymore. I don't know about you, but I see this as a very bad sign. Historically, society at its peak always holds truth up as its standard.

To let this slide is to also let civilization sink. Think about it.