Opus 2024-352: Slippery Slopes

At what point does exaggeration, spin, or even humor cross the line from being a means of communication to a blatant lie?  We all know that hyperbole is a means of emphasizing a point.  A good joke can get truth across to someone.  We are aware of this kind of thing.  But what about when the whole point is to manipulate and control for your own personal purposes?

I just experienced that.  I was told something.  It did not jive with my memory.  I confronted the person on it, and was told again the same thing.  I was told with the inference that I was wrong and was not living up to my responsibilities.  OK.  My memory is far from perfect.  Maybe I had the wrong things filed away in my mind.  I went on with life.

But the issue kept bugging me.  It was right in front of me.  I thought about what I knew to be true and as I put together events that were irrefutable to me it became very clear that the exaggeration that I was being confronted with was wrong.  It was a lie.  It was offered up in order to manipulate, control, shame, denigrate me as a person, so that I would be more compliant in the future.  It crossed the line.

Did the person know that they were lying?  I don’t know.  There would be no point in going through the details that I knew to be true that pointed out that their statement could not be right.  They would not listen.  I’ve been down that road enough to know how it would play out.  Did they care that they were lying?  Another question that I can’t answer.  I find it hard to believe that being in control is so important that you violate one of the basic 10 commandments that God has given us.

It’s a slippery slope.  I can’t keep other people from starting down it.  I can’t save them once they start to slide.  All I can really do is keep an eye on my own behavior, my own attitudes, my own motives, and try to keep them up there with the angels.  That will be hard enough for me and enough for today.

homo unius libri