In a previous post, I discussed the lies that politicians tell us and the strange nature of the electorate in that, like goldfish, we forget that we were lied to last time around the election cycle and act all surprised and affronted when we are deceived yet again at regular three year intervals.
Why do we love lies so much? It has given me much pause for thought.
We are taught to love lies as children. The best lies are the ones that give us stuff; Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Ever watched a child of about 8 or 9 years who is coming to realise that it ain't necessarily so? They don't want to give it up, Give what up? The innocence of childhood? I doubt it - they'll be innocent for a good six months more yet (until they discover YouTube and the history list on their parents' internet browser). I think they are reticent to give up the lie. Why? Because they benefit from it.
As an aside, here's a strange thought. Why is Santa's benevolence conditional upon behaviour whereas the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy come to the naughty as well as the nice? Evil children who bully others and have their teeth knocked out, when they get what they so richly deserve, are getting $1 a tooth just as much as their now dentally deficient victims. It seems like evil is contributing to GDP in some perverse way. I'm sure there's a role for legislation here - something about profiting from crime?
Coming back to the main point. Why do we love lies? I think we never really get over Santa. We love to hear a promise of something that we really want.
Young men know the power of "I love you". Get the women to believe that your heart is in it and other parts of your body could well be in it sometime very soon. Cheap at three words. Do we really think that the ladies don't know this? Is there a woman anywhere, older than 15, that hasn't come across this? But the ladies still fall for it. Why? Because that's what they want to hear.
And the reverse is true. Tell a young man that he's strong, powerful, courageous or generously proportioned and he's yours ladies. Do you think we don't know how this works? Do you really think blokes talk about football all the time? We know. We really do, but we still fall for it. Why? Because there's nothing like a woman who is amazed at the size of our capabilities.
Used car salesmen (oddly enough, never women in this cliche) and insurance salesmen (equally sexist) are never to be trusted - according to conventional wisdom. Yet they still make a profit. There is still a more than generous supply of people - who all went to the sales school at which they teach you to use the client's first name at least three times a minute - making a living out there. Is it because used cars and insurance policies have, over the ages, matured into genuine value propositions? Not on your life! It's because the salesmen know the secret: people will believe you if you tell them stuff they want to hear. Make them feel special. Make them feel like they are the wisest and most discerning customer you've ever met and the deal is as good as closed.
Of course it's essential to our modern way of life that we should continue to love being lied to. If we stopped believing that cream could halt the aging process, that drinking Coke would give us automatic entry to the in crowd's section of the beach, that life in the Navy was primarily about watersports and dancing the nightclubs in foreign cities, or that buying lottery tickets would assure us of a retirement full of Hawaiin shirts, long ocean cruises and shandies then the entire economy would collapse.
Santa wasn't just a creation of Coke, he was the saviour of modern capitalist society.
Ho ho ho.
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