Hissy Fit - September 2024 - So Many Lies: Enough is Enough

September 2024 Issue
by Elizabeth Skenes Millen

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being lied to, deceived,
and duped. Not by my friends or family,
but by the world, in general. Has the truth taken a hiatus or been kidnapped? I don’t agree with Jack Nicholson in the movie A Few Good Men when he dramatically bellows to Tom Cruise, “You can’t handle the truth!” It’s a strong statement, and the truth can hurt, but at least you know what you’re up against when you're dealing
with honesty. The truth is a rock-solid foundation from which one can start to heal, revive, and build.

While I’m not going to talk politics, I have to point the finger at what has come to be known as fake news—more truthfully known as skewed, twisted, out-of-context opinions. I’ve gotten to where I don’t believe any of it—even if it’s what I want to hear. It’s a continuous droning of speculation, what-ifs, and finger pointing regardless of what channel you watch or what side you support.

When I read the book The Boys in the Boat, which went into much more detail than the movie about the experience during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, I was shocked to learn the German government had a Director of Propaganda. This person’s job was to deceive the citizens of Germany, along with the rest of the world. And she did it well. Her name was Leni Riefenstahl, and she was a film director and actress known for producing Nazi propaganda, including two of the most effective and technically innovative propaganda films ever made. Her film Olympia prominently depicted the Nazi idea of “Strength Through Joy”. They claimed the film was commissioned by the International Olympic Committee, when in actuality, it was financed entirely by the Nazi government. Their propaganda tricked the world into thinking Hitler’s Germany was a kind and gentle place at the time when the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics were going to be cancelled due to rising tensions and suspicions.

Call me naive, but I never believed things like this went on in America. I believed in the goodness of America, that we were different, but not anymore. I still believe in the goodness of millions of Americans, because no matter how it feels, there are good people all across our country, and quite frankly, all across the world. However, I have lost all belief in our leaders, our newscasters, our corporate giants, our banks, our food suppliers, big pharma, and especially Hollywood (Not that I ever really believed in them, but at least they used to put out good movies and television shows) I feel duped, and not only does it sadden me, it makes me mad. I’m fed up.

You know what you can count on these days? Eggs and donuts. Am I crazy? Maybe, but the last time I checked a dozen still equals 12. They can’t sell 10 eggs or donuts and call it a dozen. I bring up eggs and donuts to take a look at those corporate giants. Have you noticed how their packaging in sneakily shrinking at the grocery store?

When I was in the daily newspaper industry, my publisher came to me with a newspaper and said, “Tell me what’s different.” I held the paper, looked through it, turned the pages, and I couldn’t tell any difference from what we printed every day. He revealed the difference was the dimensions. It was smaller—both shorter and narrower but not noticeably. This sneaky tweak was going to save the newspaper thousands of dollars without anyone really catching on. I didn’t think much of it until ice cream did the same thing—smaller than the standard half gallon, though it really didn’t look smaller, and it cost the same. We got less ice cream for the same price, and many of us didn’t notice for months. This is the very definition of being duped. Why didn’t the news report this? It’s a coup.

We live in the home of Lowcountry boils, and Hillshire Farm smoked sausage is a staple in this wonderfully delicious local dish. I almost gasped when I saw that a package of Hillshire Farm has gone to $6.99, and you can only imagine my disappointment when I realized it has also shrunk to 12-ounces. It used to be a pound (16-ounces), and I noticed when it shrunk to 14-ounces, but now we are down to 12-ounces—25 percent less—and we are paying double. I guess if they kept it at a full pound, we would be paying $9.32 per pound for processed meat. Not too long ago, I paid $9.99 per pound for ribeye.

Although these scenarios are very different, they share one thing in common—we are the losers. They set the rules, and we have to play by them. Sure, we can turn off our televisions, which I have, or not buy products, which now I try to only buy when they’re on sale, but that means we don’t have trustworthy sources we can count on to do the right things. We don’t have news sources we can count on to tell the whole truth or be unbiased. They even amplify the weather. Can you feel the heaviness? It’s hard to live day to day in a passive aggressive hostile environment. And not telling the truth is hostile!

Try your best to be aware and be smart. Read between the lines. Don’t take a meme, or a social media post as truth. Don’t let someone filled with hate fill your mind. If you feel you’re being hosed, bale out. Enough is enough. And, if enough people say “no more,” things will change—hopefully for the better.