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THE TRUE FALSEHOOD
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By Idris Ahmed Osman
Friday, March 21, 2008

Sometime in the first century of the Hijri calendar, a mutineer group called

Al Khawaarij (progeny of Dhul Quweisira Altamimi) rebelled against the fourth caliph, leader of the believers, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, with the pretext that there should be no human interpretation pertaining to the Quranic ruling. Their covert mischievous intention being unveiled, conspiracy aborted; a true word through which falsehood is intended became their stigma among the society. Since then a new fabric of true falsehood was invented and put into systematic convoluted evil function. Lately, multifaceted elements of plain truth have been deliberately hijacked to flavour and garnish it on top of the underlying layers of evil desires. The effect of the true falsehood or a true word with which falsehood is intended is being manifested in our deplorable status whenever we pause to analyse our position in the current monopolized media. An event becomes news for us only if the dominant news agency cartels which control it want us to know about it for certain political interests. What, how and when of the news that would be released to us is carefully and accurately studied, categorized and administered to our absorption. Having no other option, as the subjects, we should swallow every true falsehood which is embedded in the news. The falsehood is based on a cliché of apparently logic premise which leaves our receptive faculty susceptible to be moulded or engaged, to either negative or positive concept, at the disposal of its presenter. The true falsehood today comes in various templates, examples of which will be dealt with in the following lines:

  1. True falsehood on statements given in press conferences, joint communiqué or being accosted by journalists.                              

In this case, the journalists covering the event would be embarrassed as if they were hypnotised to accept the legitimacy of the official or speaker’s abracadabra. Somewhere in the middle between YES (approval) and NO (disapproval), the official or speaker mischievously derives an ambiguous, abstractive philosophical interpretation to conceal an iniquitous covert intention. The official or speaker’s sudden characteristic change of body language and tone to eyeballing, assertive attitude, invincible mood, peculiar body posture and gesture, are a signal of influential challenge and show of muscles to the journalist. Some journalists abruptly get the message and avoid pushing further forward beyond the red line. Unless very curious trying to dig deep into the mysterious mind-boggling taboo, in which case the journalist unfortunately ends up being harassed, disciplined, beaten or behind bars. This is neither a “no comment” reply nor an “abstention” between an approval and an objection to a resolution within the UN Security Council. It is a sheer request of explanation to the motives or reasons behind a certain proposal, resolution or aftermath of an event.

  1. True falsehood on legitimizing a pre-emptive aggressive invasion or a daring occupation.

Daring occupation, because it involves going against all odds, inventing tricky means

To counteract against the majority, fabricating loopholes within the victim with object to give an impetus to a belligerent cause, and mesmerizing a whole nation to digest a true falsehood.  As it is a matter of putting lives into risk, mobilizing military might, neglecting the majority of the opinion poll opposing it, this should be a big false and  extremely inseparable or undetectable from the truth. It should be a true falsehood that can not be detected even by the most sophisticated, most advanced lie-detector. It should stimulate the public fear and frenzy about life threatening danger which demands pre-emptive armed counter advances. Like the poison in the honey, the true falsehood renders the wolf in the sheep’s fur the ability to manipulate the minds of the subjects. The treacherous liar seems to be getting away with it as the cunning technique employed is extremely subtle to put the subject in a catch-22 attitude whose easier option is not to oppose or doubt, if not supporting, the true falsehood.

  1. True falsehood on denial of a fact or deliberate confirmation of a fiction.

The true falsehood plays dramatic role in the denial of historical facts as well as the confirmation of a fiction. The genuine genocide of a certain race, community or a nation is ruled out as a historical fiction, while the hoax one is illustrated in colourful pictures in Hollywood’s magic cameras to eke out its pitiful memories with the viewers. No wonder, as the highly advanced multimedia technology can perform real time imaginary magical manipulation, reconstruct scenarios putting or removing facts and fiction wherever it is intended for innocence unless proven guilty or otherwise. The victims of the true falsehood seem to be suffering double, both in terms of the physical defeat coupled with accusation of being oppressors, adding an insult to an injury. When the virtual oppressor is equipped with powerful media, using true falsehood, the former is set to hit with an iron fist and claim in advance to have been the real victim!.

  1. True falsehood on Women’s rights.

The media portrayed the Afghani women clad in their overall modest veil (burkha) as caged birds, who were subjugated by force to wear the veil, waiting to be freed by the “liberating” occupation forces, to toss it out in the bin and come out with tight jeans or bikini and t-shirts. Soon after the occupation, when the dust settled and the true falsehood was visible with naked eye, the Afghani women were still clung to their modesty and seen wandering with their full veil in the Bazaars. It is a matter of time till the (true falsehood) reform takes place was soon replaced with the previous rhetoric affirmative true falsehood. The true falsehood in women’s rights extremely unbalanced the scale to their side to the extent that men should now fight for their equal rights with women. It is incredibly bewildering to note how the women’s right equation is being distorted. It is made to appear unfair to them to be favoured, comforted and cared for as the weaker gender. They have been relieved of toiling to earn an income, fetch domestic needs and take numerous other burdens, which is made incumbent upon the man to fulfil and equally share benefits with the woman. Misleadingly the so called women’s rights compelled her to go out, toil and sweat to earn an income, pay for her share of the bills, bear same burden as the man, in addition to the feminine nature of  child-bearing, breast feeding, child care, get maternity leave but still nowadays men enjoy paternity leave too!. Who is favouring or exploiting who?!. In other words, who is fooling who? !.

  1. True falsehood on Democracy

When dictators in our countries detained, tortured, imprisoned, and killed their oppositionists without charge, it was condemned as demagogic totalitarianism. In the West, for so long the true falsehood reiterated there is nothing above the law as long as it does not contradict with the values of democracy. Soon the draconian rule was imposed to override and deny democratic norms and values. Unfortunately the values of democracy have been reduced to a debased means of reaching set goals. There is still ongoing massacre we can witness as victims and many others of which we are deaf and blind because the perpetrators either compromised or allied with democracy and the true falsehood in the media either twists or withholds it. It is defined as democracy nowadays to desecrate and satirise other’s spiritual sanctity in the name of tolerance and freedom of speech. Is it not described in democracy not to violate other’s rights?!. Is it not defined in democracy to respect other’s beliefs?!. This double standard, of two sharp and blunt edged weapon of democracy, seems to be expediting its extinction.

 

 

 

  1. True falsehood on exploiting noble causes for own interests

By merely switching to matching colour of a tree like a chameleon, culprits of this type of true falsehood commit hypocrisy. It exploits the prevailing general emotional trend of the public support for a certain noble cause. The enthusiastic unreserved blindfold support of the public is shrewdly diverted to personal interests. What the culprits of this true falsehood forget or ignore is that noble causes are ultra-sensitive to mischievous handling. It involves charismatic motivation of the majority to a deception whereby the campaigner or leader’s overt sincerity contradicts with his covert sinister intention. This type of recurring true falsehood is what caused bad reputation and overwhelming lack of confidence of the public in noble causes. It is a cursed act to sugar-coat a hidden agenda with a noble cause, namely personal money laundering or tribal interests. The damage this true falsehood inflicted on us is much greater than the sum of all above mentioned true falsehoods. For one reason, it is the root cause of all evil, secondly, it may abuse noble spiritual causes as a means to attain earthly and low targets; the crisis is running into its second decade ( TWENTY YEARS ) without clear vision of sincerity. It seems we have built an imaginary entity and status on true falsehoods within a span of decades both pre and post-colonial era. As soon as we have been freed from the ruthless stings of the colonist, we fell into an interim decade of chaos and corruption, followed by two decades of communist despotism, then indulged in turbulent bloody conflicts to date. True falsehood, in our case, is more dangerous when it originates from within; it is suicidal leading to self-deceit and deception. All above forms of true falsehood is directed from outside and are much easier to get protection against it. Except with strong faith, there is no immune system to this type of our inner true falsehood. Without getting rid of this self-addressed true falsehood, I am afraid there shall be no reconciliation, peace initiative and negotiations, which shall take positive effect. Simply we need to unwrap ourselves from the shroud of true falsehood, directed from within us, which is killing us in slow death. A suitable poem in this context goes as:

You hope for rescue yet you are not following its path

Surely the ark does not run on a dry land!.

Idris Ahmed Osman
[email protected]



 





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