“And, after all, what is a lie? ’Tis but the truth in masquerade.”
- George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788–1824), British poet
Recently, someone forwarded a short (under 3’) video, purportedly shot in Kruger National Park. The forwarding caption read: ‘Courage and Fear.’
I rather like wildlife; as a boy, I briefly considered becoming a naturalist.
My aspirations shifted after a trip to the Bronx Zoo one warm summer.
I found myself alone in the big cat section, in a front of a tiger cage. I don’t recall the whereabouts of other family members.
As many larger animals are wont to do, the occupant behind the bars paced back and forth, to and fro. Fascinated, I watched for awhile, then decided to pace with the animal. We marched in parallel. When it turned, I turned. When it went to, so did I. I did not go fro unless it did.
This continued for some time.
Suddenly the tiger stopped and, without warning but with great accuracy, shot a stream of liquid that landed on me. It was pungent, hot, and a complete surprise.
I howled with dismay and ran toward a parent. I learned that day the distance from which a tiger can accurately micturate. I did not glance to see if the tiger had a satisfied facial grin, but suspect it may have.
Like that of the tiger I recall from a grade school limerick:
“There once was a lady from Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They came back from the ride
With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger.”
Score: tiger — 1, human — 0.
I yet retain interest in the animal kingdom, and often prefer nature programs to other TV fare.
So I viewed the forwarded video with some interest.
It showed a small dog protecting cougar cubs from an adult wolf. Near the video’s end, the wolf gets lured by the dog, which has attacked more than once to distract it from nearby cubs, over a cliff.
My suspicions were heightened.
Kruger National Park is in S. Africa. None of the animals depicted — dog, wolf, and cubs — are indigenous to that country. Video footage seemed almost professional. The fall of the wolf off a cliff looked staged. It seemed improbable that a small dog would be a match for a wolf.
I conducted a search, hoping to discover the truth. It does matter to me.
Nothing I could find at Kruger National Park’s website matched the video. But, on further search, I found something.
In 1987 Disney produced a film called “Benji the Hunted” about the adventures of a small dog in the wild. The small dog in the forwarded video was Benji.
There was a segment identical to that in the forwarded video of the wolf going over a cliff. The appearance of the other animals (dog, cubs) was identical in the two video clips.
Events did not transpire in Kruger, S. Africa, but in N. America.
The forwarding was a hoax, an urban legend. Ersatz.
Mendacity abounds, including on the Internet.
I used to wonder why, until I encountered a TED talk which spoke about people very much preferring to hear what corroborates their preconceived notions.
Truth is often stranger than fiction, and can stand on its own.
2 + 2 = 4.
Always.
In this or any other universe.
Those who believe otherwise should be pitied. They often take prescribed medication; some are to be found in mental institutions. Or they may walk our streets.
Every so often, a painting will be discovered. It is usually abstract and has often been collecting dust in a neglected room somewhere. Someone who seems to know something about art suddenly gets the notion the artist may have been someone notable — maybe Jackson Pollack.
I have nothing against Pollack, but neither have I particular affinity for his work.
The ramification of the above is rather astonishing, however. If not a Pollack, the painting may be worth a few dollars. If a Pollack, it may be worth many millions. The value of anything is really what someone is willing to pay. Names hold cachet in our society.
The artwork cannot stand on its own merit. It must be authenticated. In the end it may be, but perhaps not with absolute certainty. Authenticators of fine art are understandably reluctant to stick their necks out. What if they’re wrong?
If it is declared to be a Pollack but isn’t, poetic (and perhaps artistic) justice may have been done. But we, the public, may never know about it.
Someone once opined the more legible a signature on a document, the harder it is to forge.
So, perhaps, with fine art. The squiggles of Pollack may be easier to replicate than brushstrokes of others.
Near of the end of George Orwell’s “1984,” thought policeman O’Brien tortures protagonist Winston Smith into believing 2 + 2 = 5. Whatever the party says is truth, and vice versa. O’Brien knows once this concept is ingrained, critical dissent becomes impossible. One cannot speak truth to power if, by definition, power speaks truth.
Richard Nixon, 37th POTUS, put it this way, speaking of his role in Watergate: ‘When the President does it, that means that it’s not illegal.” Fortunately, there was a power greater than his. No man, even the POTUS, is above the law.
It is the Father of Lies who has deluded so many into believing that the broad boulevard is the road to happiness, success and fulfillment. That we should eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. That what we now have and experience is all there is. He doesn’t tell us about the lake of fire.
“Ye shall not surely die’ becomes (as Gordon Gecko in the 1987 film ‘Wall Street’ opined): ‘Greed is good.’ Which gives rise to people like Bernie Madoff, who stole billions in a Ponzi scheme.
Transgression can be rationalized by those who create their own reality. Terrible things (think Spanish Inquisition) have been perpetrated in the name of religion.
The Father of Lies has not been alone. Greek philosopher Protagoras (486–411 BCE) said objective truth was an illusion because ‘man is the measure of all things.’ In other words, each of us can discover or make his/her own truth.
However, as philosopher Michael Patrick Lynch observed in a TED talk, despite our differences, we actually do agree on all sorts of things. We agree bullets can kill people. Humans cannot flap arms and fly. Etc.
We ignore objective reality at our peril.
We are told there will come a time when the Great Impersonator will mimic divinity. So closely many will be deceived. Mostly because they want to believe what they see and hear. Not so different from now.
Our only hope is to maintain vertical connection with that which we believe to be genuine.
