Sleeping Dogs (Governments) always Lie
Taking the title from the Canadian documentary film of a similar one, All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone.
The film highlights the work and lives of independent and investigative journalists who have been inspired by the example of I. F. Stone (1907–1989), who was known for digging into public records and back-page stories to track down and expose stories the mainstream corporate news media were ignoring. The film sheds light on the challenges these reporters face in recent times as they dig for the truth, rather than acting as “stenographers to power”.
A watch of this insightful film will expose one to the machinations and experience the how, what and who sets the narrative of power, leaving the viewer to come to the conclusion that no government is clean or can even afford to tell the basic truth. In fact, governments are highly likely to be incentivized to work in a covert manner with a shield of the official secrets act enabling them to pull wool over citizens eyes.
Quoting a line from my all time favorite TV show Yes Minister, a scene where Sir Humprey and Sir Arnold attempt to explain to the naïve private secretary Bernard Woolley the realities of open government and why the electorate aren't interested in facts.
Sir Arnold: "My dear boy, it is a contradiction in terms: you can be open or you can have government."…."If people don't know what you're doing, they don't know you're doing it wrong."
This encapsulates the entire secrecy act and moral devoid present in government bureaucracies.
Caitlin Johnstone coherently explains it in her article:
They lie to us all our lives about what soldiers do,
about what cops do,
about what journalists do,
about what presidents do.They lie to us all our lives about how laws are made,
about how kings are made,
about how culture is made,
about how norms are made.They lie to us all our lives about what our minds are for,
about what our hearts are for,
about what our neighbors are for,
about what foreigners are for….They lie to us all our lives about what our country is,
about what our government is,
about what money is,
about what nature is.They lie to us all our lives about where the answers are,
about where our friends are,
about where our enemies are,
about where our claws are.
The sad truth is that governments even though they are in the decline and slowly becoming irrelevant, only care about stability and ensuring their stakeholders interests.
Forget anything about government morality, they don’t care. Morality and virtue signaling (such as the case with recent policies: Ukraine solidarity, climate change, equality or the DEI polices) is only a means to a dystopian end.
See you tomorrow!
- Ope