This post may earn me more wrath, and frankly I don't give a shit. It is after all MY uncensored blog and am not exactly known for my political correctness either...
I want to write about lies today...lies bloody lies...
I have noticed that lying is the world no.1 epidemic. Worse than swine flu, worse than HIV, worse than the bubonic plague...lying is known to kill indiscriminately, and you need not go too far to see the effects of lying on nations, be it in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan...
Lies are the most potent of weapons for the WEAK. Be sure of that.
But I do not wish to write about politics here, even though, I leave the reader to indulge in a bit of thinking - if it's not too much to ask.....
I have noticed that lying is not only endemic, but it is also encouraged as a way of life...yes, a way of life..
Lying permeates EVERYTHING - Families, intimate relationships, social relationships, governments, the economy, businesses, institutions, clergy, media, academia, politics, even the sciences including the medical field are not spared lies...the virtual world, the real world, and even outer space discoveries are built on lies...
It's fucking amazing, is it not ? I think it is...It's definitely fucking amazing.
And since the subject of Lies and Lying is such a vast field, branching out to literally all aspects of Life, it would require not 1 but 2, 3, 4 Doctoral theses to cover - the origins, development, the biological, psycho-social, political, religious, spiritual,causes and consequences of Lies.. and while at it, cover the history of Lies and how Lies in History have made and broken up nations and empires....of course, this is something I have absolutely no intention of engaging in...
Suffice to say that in my opinion and based upon long and painful observations and experiences, I can safely say that LIES and its corollaries, i.e DECEIT, DENIAL, FABRICATION,...etc..in short, the occultation of TRUTH, starts with a very simple personal, self decision - and that personal decision is called an INTENTION. Lies are always preceded by an intention to cover the Truth and for many reasons...it can be cowardice, fear, self protection, gaining of approval, gaining interests, achieving a specific goal, covering up one's tracks because of wrong behavior, justifying the inexcusable...you name it...
But whichever way I look at it, behind the LIE there is always PROFIT. And who says profit always means gain and loss.
And even though there are different types of lies and several levels of lying...ranging from the seemingly "innocuous" lie to the compulsive, pathological liar (and by the way, the male gender is quite proficient at the compulsive lying business and the female gender at the manipulation business- which for me amounts to roughly the same, really), so leaving typifications, classifications and scales aside, for me Lying is Lying. Full stop.
A big lie, a small lie, a good lie, a bad lie, a white lie, a black lie, a purple lie, a red lie, a green lie, a yellow lie --- for me it's all a fucking lie.
Now where is the political incorrectness in all of this? Wait, am getting there...
Today I had nothing to do, actually I have a lot to do, but I can't be bothered to do it...so I amused myself classifying countries according to their levels of lying...
First I broke it down in continents and revised my impressions from my numerous travels, readings, dealings and experiences with different peoples and races...and this is what I came up with...
In the Middle East and the Arab world... and this is where I shall begin, because this is the area I know best. I shall not cover every single country and remember am not talking politically here, because if I am to include politics then ISRAEL and IRAN would top the list. So let me stick to what I really want to write about...
So getting back to the subject matter...
The worst liars in the Arab world are to be found in Egypt. Lying in Egypt should be made part of the national anthem...In Egypt everyone lies to everyone else...literally.
Liars in Egypt are the norm, and a truthful person is considered weird and worse, a liar.
Lies in Egypt are about everything -- I am not exaggerating, everything. EVERY SINGLE FUCKING THING is lied about in Egypt. And yes, it's THAT bad. There, you can safely consider the motto - they lie as they breath - to be an applied, empirically tested, proven, Truth.
Egypt is followed by Ze Lebanon...Ze Lebanese like to think themselves crafty and pride themselves in being good entrepreneurs...In Ze Lebanon, the definition of a good entrepreneur is someone who can gain the maximum of profit with the maximum of lies. Entrepreneur is not to be taken as business only, entrepreneurship in Ze Lebanon applies to EVERYTHING and to ALL social and personal relationships...
As I said before, I cannot go through each single country, but it is safe to say that in the ARAB world lying is part and parcel of the "national heritage".
Since am on the subject of this culturally schizophrenic entity called the Arab world, let me say a few things about today's Iraq. Iraqis had the reputation of being the Prussians/Germans of the Middle East.
I know some of you wankers out there would nod their heads and say "yes of course, they were ruled by the Nazis". Not so, idiots. A liar in Iraq would get a kundara , a shoe on his head...usually accompanied with the following sentence : " Chathab, kalb ibn kalb - Liar, dog, son of a dog. " This does not mean they were ALL truthful, righteous Iraqis, not so at all. It just means that before, lying was NOT part of the culture, so to speak...yes, dictatorships do that to you. Today, Iraqis are the most corrupt in the Arab world, they beat Egypt and Ze Lebanon combined...
OK, I think am done with the Arab garbage, let me move on to another pile now...
A short note here, I don't want Indians and Pakistanis who read the above, rub their hands gleefully and say "see, we told you Arabs are liars.!"
Oh no, because Indians and Pakistanis beat Arabs in the field of Lying...they have elevated it to an art form, Bollywood style, all flowery colors, like the tacky artificial flowers found in curry restaurants. So shut up and go tend your own backyard and get rid of those plastic flowers...and the sly smiles and head shaking nods.
Since am on the subject of the Indian subcontinent, let me add that Sri Lankans do not fare better than their Indian and Pakistani counterparts. And in this whole bloody lot, the least dishonest I have met where the Afghans, I think it must a tribal thing...well not anymore..
OK am done with the Indian subcontinent. let me move on to Asia.
The least liars I have come across were the Chinese, and the worst were the Filipinos. If you like, the Philippines is the Egypt of Asia. There too, lying for them is a cultural thing, they inhale and exhale it daily...
OK, move on to Africa...I don't have much experience with Africa and Africans. I had met a few Senegalese whom I really liked and had nothing to complain about, but I also did meet some Nigerians and the little I know about them, is that they were bad lying motherfuckers...Judging from the amount of scam, fraudulent emails I get from Nigeria, I guess you get my point.
Moving on to Europe...the worst were the Albanians-Kosovars...and the least in lying were the Germans and the Scandinavians. Will dedicate a special post to Denmark as I found the great Danes to be the most unpleasant people to be around with and the most racist and arrogant in Northern Europe followed by the Finns.
OK time to move to the Americas. Grosso modo, Latin Americans do not fare better than the Arabs in their lying sprees. The worst I came across were the Brazilians, many of whom I found to be full of shit, but Latinos also make lying a "cultural" trait...
Since am on the subject of the Americas, let me conclude with my "all time favorite" -- America, the USA.
Contrary to the prevalent belief that Americans are an honest people, I found the Americans to be the most dumb liars around. One characteristic that particularly struck me in the American personality (that includes Arab Americans, by the way) is their enormous propensity for BULLSHIT. You can safely say that Americans are FULL OF SHIT when it comes to the Truth.
Americans pretend all the time, and fake it. Fake smiles, fake "hi how's it going", fake friendliness, fake political correctness, fake everything... and I have NEVER, EVER met a people in my life who are capable of so many lies, primarily to themselves and in second lieu to the world.
Their lies are the most dangerous ones of all...Their lies are institutionalized at the highest levels, in their families, in their schools, in their universities, in their government, in their army, in their economy, in their businesses, in their churches, in their media, in their films.. they are indeed the people of the lie, the most dangerous ones around...
They are the Mother of all Liars, the Mother of all Lies. And their lies are bloody, bloody, lies...
