Not too long ago, 20/20 or Prime Time or something like that did a piece about lying. They couldn't understand how kids and grown ups, CEOs, etc. could be so guilty of lying.Where does the mystery lie? Anyone who watches TV or listens to the radio is lied to constantly.
Impossible you say? Remember the candidates trying to be nominated in 2000? Did you believe everything all of them told you? Yes, even Pat Robertson. If you answered "yes", shame on you. A few years ago, Tucson decided to build several baseball parks. The idea was to bring in the teams for their Spring training. We were told by the local politicians that there would not be any burden to the taxpayers. It was going to be financed by the Winter visitors, the "snow birds". There would be an additional tax placed on them to use the RV parks, etc. Guess what? The "snow birds" went to other cities. Now guess who is paying for these ball parks.
And remember the George Bush of the 1988 - 1992 era? He said something like, "...no new taxes. Read my lips". Guess what happened not too long after that was said. In case you don't remember, he was the president and now we have his son in office.
I don't want to give the politicians all the credit for lying. The people who work in advertising get to do their share, too. Maybe even more than their "fair" share. They try to make you believe that if you drink their product, you will be transformed into a person who is 23 years old, 5' 8" tall and weigh 110 "soaking wet" pounds.* And the advocates of anti-smoking "get their licks" in, too. If you don't smoke, you will live to be 200+ years old, have perfect everything, teeth, health, hair, eyes, etc. I am not sure what you will die from, maybe just plain boredom. Every time you hear of someone famous dying, it is because they were a one time smokers or were near someone who did. This includes athletes who die of a heart attack.
Smokers do make the doctors' job easier. When you go to see the doctor for an ingrown toenail and s/he finds out you are a smoker, s/he will tell you to quit smoking and your ingrown toenail will be cured. If you are not a smoker, the poor doctor has to do some thinking.
At one time in Tucson, we had two trauma centers, one at University Medical Center and one at Tucson Medical Center. Due to money problems, there was talk of closing both of them down. The state came up with some money to keep them open `til the end of the year. Now the local politicians are looking for ways to come up with the money to keep them open for another year and beyond. One "overly bright" idea was to add a 50¢ per pack city tax to cigarettes.
Did s/he stop to think about what if several hundred people quit smoking and what that would do to the expected income? I doubt it. Politicians are not required to think, just come up with very stupid ideas. Would that mean that only smokers can use the trauma center because smokers are the ones financing them?
And what do the preceding two paragraphs have to with the topic? Remember about 3 or 4 years ago when the tobacco companies stopped paying off the DC politicians and smoking was "grabbed by the short hairs"? One excuse for doing this was to give money to hospitals that had been going unpaid for treating smokers who couldn't afford their exorbitant fees. I believe the battle cry was, "One dollar of every pack sold will go to the hospitals". If any of the hospitals in Tucon or anywhere have received a penny of the dollar collected, I would really be surprised. I might even have a miscarriage--and I'm a male. I think I heard that Arizona gave some of the "hospital" money to the highway fund because some time back, money from the highway fund was diverted to hospitals. And if you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Arizona for sale, only $1,000,000 an acre.
As this article started out, you are lied to all the time. Kids get trained right from the "git go". As most kids do, they grow up and continue using their deceptive training. And that in turn gives the lying psychoanalyst a chance to use his/her deceptive training and try to convince us that they do not comprehend why there is so much lying going on.
* Yes, I am aware that the tobacco companies lied to us. However, because this is the "tobacco war", the anti-smoking group is allowed to do what the criminal courts can't, stoop to the offender's level. The courts are not allowed to practice "eye for an eye" justice because that would be stooping to the criminals' level and we, the populous, are above that. We just want the best justice that money can buy!
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