Living a Lie [Grand Narrative, Chapter 1.1]
Entering the modern forest of deceit
My new book Grand Narrative is being released chapter by chapter for paid subscribers.
The Prologue for Grand Narrative is here:
The Introduction to Grand Narrative is here:
CONTENTS:
PROLOGUE: The Oxford Union has betrayed British Values
INTRODUCTION: Who’s afraid of grand narrative
BOOK 1: LANGUAGE: ON LIES & CIVILIZATIONAL DEMISE
1.1: Living a Lie
1.2: Corruption of the Masses
1.3: The Dangerous Confusion of Language
1.4: The Great Genocide Lie
1.5: In Praise of the British Empire for Abolishing Slavery Worldwide
1.6: The Problem with Atheism
1.7: Justice Lost
1.8: Thou Shalt Not Lie: On the Destruction of Worlds
1.9: Democracy cannot survive in a World that accepts Truth as Lies
BOOK 2: TRUTH: ON THE BIRTH OF HUMAN AGENCY
BOOK 3: SOVEREIGNTY: ON THE DEMOCRATIC NATION
BOOK 4: NARRATIVE: ON THE FULFILMENT OF MEANING
BOOK 5: FREEDOM: ON WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER
BOOK 6: COVENANT: ON CREATING A NATION OF NARRATIVE
BOOK 7: NATIONHOOD: ON EXPANDING THE NARRATIVE
BOOK 8: LEADERSHIP: ON REACHING THE PROMISED LAND
BOOK 9: PEACE: THE END OF THE JOURNEY
[Image: Jeremy Paxman v Michael Howard. Nostalgia for days when politicians couldn’t answer a straight question. ]
Chapter 1.1: Living a Lie
Entering the modern forest of deceit
Amongst all the great ecosystems of the world, there is one against which climate change is powerless to destroy: the biosphere of lying. Evolution has evolved it. Mutations have mutated it. And diversity have immunised it to disease. The ivy is creeping, the weeds are engulfing and the righteous seem impotent in its wake. The wooden soldiers advance menacingly towards the Sun, their canopies maintaining darkness on the mendacity below.
Once upon a time, they said that politicians couldn’t answer a straight question. They were right. But it was the politicians who were morally right. To be sure, they diverted and reworded and redirected. Sometimes they remained mute. But they did so out of respect for the Word. To mislead by omission they could tolerate; to change the conversation they enthused. But to lie directly would be a badge of disgrace, an insult to their moral code, a breach of a knight’s honour. It was for this reason that didn’t answer: to marry the integrity of honesty with the continuation of office.
Yet today the politicians do answer1. They speak with directness. They lie with abandon. The Michael Howards who would avoid the same question 12 times so as to defeat the lie are no more2. Or at least they are a dying breed, sinking in the mud of post-truth, dreaming in nostalgia of a world of honour.
The direct lie has become as common as the weeds and as noxious as an untasted fungus. So common is its dissemination; and so acceptable are their dissimulations; that we have become immune to its poison. We have imbibed the nicotine and become addicted. In our stupor, it no longer means anything to us. The gatekeepers have abandoned their posts. Those in their place have become drunk on duty, have taken their bribes and have kissed the ring. “Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain”.3
Our immunity, our nonchalance, our untuned cacophony of disinterest places us all firmly in the dock of shame. We have been declared guilty, ashamed and naked in the Garden of Lost Paradise. We slept when we should have watched. We listened when we should have turned away. We created a new religion amongst the ziggurats of Babylon and their idols are our master. The Golden Calf, shining with riches, came to command us. We wept, we danced, we worshiped and then we were condemned. The first coming of truth moved us, but only for a moment: for then arose the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. 60 cubits was its height and 6 cubits was its width4. The great and mighty came to pay homage. First the advisors and governors came to sacrifice their souls, but they were mere heralds for the flood that was to come. The treasurers, the judges, the officials - the deep state in all its glory - came to bend the knee to their new King. Money was the new god throughout the land.
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