I was listening to a program on the world economy and the degree to which it is based on a 'virtual' situation --- i.e. money is lent that doesn't exist, there is no gold standard to back economies , countries with huge debts 'lend' huge amounts etc, etc, etc One of the presenters asked the fascinating question " Is it time to declare the emperor has no clothes?"
I thought what a brilliant question! How often do we bolster up our acceptance of ways of going on, when the brave thing would be to say stop, let's stop this nonsense!
A good example recently was one of the UK politicians who had just volunteered to put himself on a lie detector and came out clean as a whistle on every question. His point was that politicians can only lie so long as the voters put up with it. So, why not, cut to the chase, and if you want to be in public office, be willing to take lie detector test once a year. If you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to lose!
OK..maybe a bit draconian...but actually...he had a point ..there are always ways of drawing a line and saying 'enough is enough'. And once a stance has been taken, the principle applies. In previous times, truth and honour were important enough to influence public behaviour...and who is to say, that could not be the same again, if enough people won't have it any other way!
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