Have you arrived to the point where you believe NOTHING they say?

[burythehatchet]

I passed that point years ago. In fact, the way I look at it, anything they state to be a fact, I first determine if the opposite is really the case. Usually it is. For example, Clear Skies Initiative, yep, you know what happened.

What I can't understand is how so many of us forget this lesson and so often believe what they say, only to realize the truth later.

[poverlay]

1. I make it a point to try and expect the opposite, but I still get tripped up occasionally.

That's what happens when you are a generally trusting soul...

[hiaasenrocks]

2. Yep. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

3. My inner cynic can lick your inner cynic.

[hiaasenrocks]

5. That's not cynicism.

The fact that they're still engaged and believe that things can be turned around is a sign of optimism.

[Cerridwen]

4. Not only do I believe nothing they say, but I catch myself

starting to believe the most outrageous claims I sometimes read. For example, some stories from The Onion require me to make sure they are really posted at The Onion. *sigh*

[SoonerPride]

6. Yes. When I listen to Bush talk of the enemy, I hear him describing US.

It is bizarro upside down world.

Really, examine any speech, any time given by Bush and it is exactly backwards.

[burythehatchet]

8. I do the ALL the time

I just pretend he's talking about himself and everything makes sense.

[SoonerPride]

15. It's really eerie isn't it? I mean, like right out of Orwell.

I hear him talk and the words describe everything he does and we do.

Bizarro land

[kenny blankenship]

7. Don't believe anything until it has been officially denied

[burythehatchet]

11. It cannot be proven until Tony Snow apologizes.

[rpannier]

9. I reached the point a while back where

if they were describing something I was looking at, I'd assume my eyes were playing tricks on me.

I believe NOTHING they say.

[Selatius]

10. People in the former Soviet Union possess one trait Americans sorely lack

They simply don't know how to read between the lines. If the Soviet government said production levels are going to meet quota, then that likely meant that quotas were dropped to make it easier for the Soviet machinery to keep up. If the Soviet government said the program to help the people of Afghanistan was going to be a long-term project, then it really meant the Red Army was facing a protracted guerrilla war against the Afghani Mujahadeen. Things of that sort.

Americans believe what the corporate news media says, and that's something Pravda wished it had over its subjects in the Soviet Union.

[burythehatchet]

13. that's an excellent observation. Remarkable dynamic when you consider

that we have a far superior ability to communicate our ideas where they had newsprint and radio, for the most part. We just looooove the bright shiny ball.

[sandnsea]

22. They knew they were insulated

With all these channels, 24/7 cable news, radio, internet, print, free speech rights - Americans think they're informed even though they never hear a word about the rest of the world, and it never occurs to them to question why. We are way worse off than the Soviet Union, it's going to create quite a rude awakening one of these days.

[Selatius]

26. The problem in the US is the people who run this country employ far more sophisticated tactics.

We can read about the clumsy propaganda machines that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union utilized, and we can laugh at their crude machinations; we know what they are, but nobody really thinks that the business interests that run our country employ similar tactics, just that they're so much more complex that they're not recognizable as forms of propaganda. On Wall Street, it's called marketing instead.

You still have 41 percent of Americans believing Saddam and 9/11 are linked. That's damn near half the population. Hitler and Stalin wished they could get that many people to truly believe what they say.

[baldguy]

12. If they said the sky was blue on a sunny day

I'd look out the window and check

[blm]

14. Arrived there during Bush1. And still feel I waited too long to do so.

I didn't start questioning Clinton's credibility till I gave him the chance to square alot of matters in his book. I defended him mightily for years. But, he chose not to do that. So.....not many get my trust now.

Gore's book Assault on Reason gave me hope that he has turned his back on the secrecy and privilege gang and would be a solid open government candidate for us.

[Parche]

16. say

Makes you wonder about 9/11..................:bounce:

[burythehatchet]

18. I don't wonder at all.

[wryter2000]

17. I got there a while ago

It started with Joe Wilson's revelation. That was the first time I had proof positive that they'd outright lied about something important. Before that, I thought it might all be spin and word manipulation.

[burythehatchet]

19. Spin

You know how you watch a wheel spin faster and faster, and then it looks like its turning the opposite way? We're there.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

20. to be very honest when they were campaigning against gore i didnt trust a word they said

[here_is_to_hope]

21. 2 years ago....n/t

[BeHereNow]

23. I've felt that way since Reagan actually.

And yes, I include the Clintons.
Corporate fuckers, all of them.
Acting in the interest of corporations, not people.
That's how we got where we are today-
it has been happening for decades.

BHN

[baby_mouse]

24. Long time ago. NT

[Atman]

25. Yes.

Quite a while ago, in fact. I believe NOTHING they say. If BushCo claimed it was raining, I'd go out and take a sample and have it tested in a lab to see if it was really water. I don't believe one single thing that spews forth from their lying asses.

.

[burythehatchet]

27. since the word "ditto" has been soiled, I'll say I agree with that sentiment n/t

[Cobalt-60]

28. They're all liars. Everything they say or do is a lie. eom.

[kestrel91316]

29. Years ago.

[proud patriot]

30. Oh I passed that point long ago

x(

[KAT119]

33. AGREED!

[H2O Man]

31. Many years ago,

the best supervisor that I ever worked with gave me some advice that comes to mind. I was preparing to do some work with the forensic groups, and another co-worker was commenting on how hard it could be to tell when certain clients were lying. Our supervisor said, "Keep in mind that we don't have to believe them about anything." By their history, they had lost any right to expect us to take anything they said on face value.

As citizens, our responsibility to to keep in mind that we don't have to believe anything that government officials say. It's up to hem to provide the evidence to convince us. In the case of this administration, I am convinced they are no more honest than the guys in the county jail groups that I met.

[burythehatchet]

32. sometimes my imagination is strained tryng to comprehend the level of dishonesty

It has a physical and psychological effect. I now understand the importance of leaders to our daily lives.

[havocmom]

34. With the current crew in the executive branch, and GOP on the Hill,

Disbelief was my starting point.

It has been downhill from there. They keep on proving that my worst fears weren't quite bad enough.

[NotGivingUp]

35. a LONG, long time ago...it's only been more recent that i dont' believe a word ANY of them say. nt