We will know them by their fruit

The easiest way to know if you are participating in evil is this:
Are you participating in lies?
The results of your actions will speak for themselves.
Are things better, or are things worse?

We all know the standard for truth

“The truth…
The whole truth…
And nothing but the truth.”

Tell the truth, tell the whole truth, and add nothing to the truth.
We can tell the truth but leave out important details, and we are still participating in evil. We are still lying.
We can tell the whole truth, and add falsehood, changing the entire meaning, and participate in evil.

Pretty simple, and yet…
Have you ever stopped looking for information when you found something that confirmed what you wanted to find?
Have you ever shared, posted, talked about or forwarded something that did not meet the standard for truth?

Partial and embellished truths are the most insidious.

Why?
Because they contain just enough truth to make them believable, especially when we are looking to confirm our biases.
After a lifetime of indoctrination of the “patriarchy”, many women find all the proof they need in a graphic of the “gender pay gap”.
It’s just that the information does not tell the entire story, is just supports the bias, which in our world today, is more than enough.

We spread anger that feels righteous, except that it is based on lies.
We take actions that feel like an appropriate response to the lies, and make things much worse.
Rational people become irrational, and do ugly things, like indoctrinate the next generation into more of the same lies.

The results are in: This is not working.

We are being emotionally manipulated.
Balkanized.
Divided into small, ineffective groups.
Torn apart by lies.

The question is: Why?
Because it gets us angry which gets us off the couch, energized, mobilized, and might just get us to vote.
But we are voting for a lie.
Do we really want to vote for the people that are emotionally manipulating us, and lying to us?

We need to do better.
Choose truth.