The Age of Deceit

The old rule of let the buyer beware should now be applied to all and every political utterance, and not only political, since just about every part of our lives is now subject to deceit.

Everywhere we examine there is deceit—from governments to fashion, from appearance to sporting success.

In fashion, there is always a level of deceit, as the pretence that expensive new clothes are more desirable than older more practical ones has always been subject to questioning. Now designer labels sell at higher prices than supermarket brands. The deceit is that designer labels are worth more, but in truth, they are just what is says: Designed labels; it is very probable that the clothes are made in the same factories as the supermarket ones.

Another area is with factory packaged “modern” food? Everything seems to be a complicated way to hide the proper taste of good simple ingredients. Everything is designed to be “novel,” never mind that it ruins the subtle taste of good food. TV cooks, posh expensive restaurants, recipe books, and even supermarket leaflets all promote complicated ways to hide the basic taste of food. Why not eat things as they are and taste how they are? Is it because most food sold now is so far removed from natural flavours that the mass market retailers want us to hide them? If so, chilli hides multitude of sins. How many people realise the wonderful difference in flavour between a King Edward and a Pink Fir Apple? How many appreciate that a Cox's Orange Pippin is a different flavour from a Brambly? Drown everything in chilli and any old rubbish can be served.

Sport is now a part of the entertainment business. Success brings wealth. Deceit takes place in the use of drugs to artificially enhance a person's performance, and in the use of creative accountancy to get round fair play financial rules.

TV air time and social media are fill with fake reality rubbish. It is certain 80 percent of people know this is fake, but they still go along and pretend the pretence is a real live show The saddest thing is that those who really believe this nonsense have an electoral vote as important as the person who studies policy and past utterances of would-be politicians. Social media is full of “shares” of political notices—that are easily shown to be propaganda with no basis in reality, but they still get repeated thousands of times. Repetition will convince those unwilling to make real effort that they may be true.

Large retail shops advertise bargains and reductions when these are more realistically shown as repackaging. How many furniture sellers have permanent “sales.” The prices they claim the products are reduced to are the ones they intend to sell at from the start. Any advertising suggesting a need to hurry and buy before the sale ends needs close examination, as so often a new sale starts the day after the old one ends.

Huge energy supply companies claim they offer the lowest prices, but if the consumer is not very careful and also very aware of the tricks of this trade, they will find they are paying more than necessary. Price comparison web sites claim to save customers money but the customer needs to look closely at the figures. Some of these sites only offer deals in which they take a commission; how else do you think the website staff gets paid? Some are inclined to flash up a claim, "you can save £200 by switching," but the figures for what you will pay—if not switch—may have been inflated. Deceit is everywhere.

Politics is the worst example. The relationship between the media and politicians is much closer and more integrated than most voters will expect. Swaying political opinion needs the media. Politicians are, generally, on a career path rather than a conviction to reform society. Even the far-leftwing politicians, who claim to wish to reform society as a whole, are often very ambiguous or even deliberately confusing in their utterances. Many come from relativity wealthy families; how else do they have the time and money to go to university and then embark on a political career? Politics used to be described as the art of achieving the acceptable, but now, it is the art of deceit. Ensuring the correct photograph is published, the most appealing “sound bite” is broadcasted, the most acceptable face is in front of the cameras—these are all the workings of professional political presenters, working for whichever party group offers the largest salary. Information is gathered, as by Mr. Hoover in the USA, to store and be used against an opponent should that opponent ever offer a threat to the wealth and power of whoever is paying for the information to be obtained and stored. Stories of mistakes and any misdemeanor carried out by someone 30 years ago, when they were teenagers, do not find their way into the media by accident. There is a purpose in searching out and publishing this information, and the purpose is to present a deceitful image of the present day political opponent.

We are in an age of deceit, everything—from what we have to pay for services, to political news—is deceitful. The social media spreads false news faster then genuine facts, science is also caught up in this. Research is now only carried out with a preconceived objective, just finding what the truth is has long gone. Student groups who declare no platform, claiming they are protecting students, are being deceitful. They are protecting a certain view, a selected opinion, from comparison and criticism. Recycling may be a laudable objective, but this too gets mired in deceit. Authorities proclaim they are recycling X percent of rubbish; try to find if this is by weight or volume, try to establish exactly what amounts get recycled and information gets scarce.

Change has to come from the top. Presidents, Prime Ministers, and all political leaders have to start being totally honest. I guess not many will be holding their breath till this happens.