Inoculating YourselI

Against SelI-Serving
Lies

Paul Richardson
November 2011









Robert Heinlein, Iamous science Iiction writer, produced a compendium
oI 'wise sayings/truths that has achieved a strong Iollowing over time.
The Notebooks of La:arus Long contains the learned wisdom oI Lazarus
Long an immortal character in Heinlein`s Iiction. Because he had lived
so long he became wise. To give you a Ilavor oI the wisdom contained:
You live and learn. Or you don't live long.
An elephant: A mouse built to government speciIications.
What are the Iacts? Again and again and again -- what are the
Iacts? Shun wishIul thinking, ignore divine revelation, Iorget what
"the stars Ioretell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors
think, never mind the unguessable "verdict oI history" -- what are
the Iacts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into
an unknown Iuture; Iacts are your single clue. Get the Iacts!
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an
invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a
sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comIort the
dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve
equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a
computer, cook a tasty meal, Iight eIIiciently, die gallantly.
Specialization is Ior insects.
Do not conIuse "duty" with what other people expect oI you; they
are utterly diIIerent. Duty is a debt you owe to yourselI to IulIill
obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can
entail anything Irom years oI patient work to instant willingness to
die. DiIIicult it may be, but the reward is selI-respect.
But there is no reward at all Ior doing what other people expect oI
you, and to do so is not merely diIIicult, but impossible. It is easier
to deal with a Iootpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a
Iew minutes oI your time, please -- this won't take long." Time is
your total capital, and the minutes oI your liIe are painIully Iew. II
you allow yourselI to Iall into the vice oI agreeing to such requests,
they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use
up 100 percent oI your time -- and squawk Ior more!
So learn to say No - and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do
your own work, and certainly no time Ior love and happiness. The
termites will nibble away your liIe and leave none oI it Ior you.
(This rule does not mean that you must not do a Iavor Ior a Iriend,
or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because
it is "expected" oI you.)
Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by
legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid.
But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is
death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically
and without pity.
Let`s discuss the last (Stupidity Death Sentence). Now I don`t
advocate that it should apply to people who as Heinlein says can`t help
being stupid. But I do think his statement could be used eIIectively to
motivate us to 'kill stupid political decisions and policies. It seems that
stupid ideas and programs, especially political, have great inertia and
growth potential Ior great and growing harm. They also tend to enrich
those who come up with the schemes.
We should demand that stupid programs be killed immediately with no
excuses or remorse allowed. Yes, many people are typically 'invested
in continuing them but that is no excuse. The sooner we pull the plug,
the sooner they can Iind productive employment doing something
worthwhile.
OI course, there is another category oI problem where the stupidity is on
the public. That is where lies are told to motivate us to do what the
'state wants us to do. In those cases it is we who are stupid enough to
believe it. We must work to 'vaccinate ourselves with the truth so that
we don`t Iall Ior their lies. Georges Sorel promoted the vital lie as a way
to motivate the masses to do what you want. Thus, this technique is
known as the Sorellian lie.
f you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will
eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for
such time as the State can shield the people from the political,
economic and/or military consequences of the lie. t thus becomes
vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress
dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by
extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

-- Joseph Goebbels, Chief Na:i Propagandist
An example oI a lie that has enriched those telling it Ior decades is that
'we can improve our education system perIormance iI we only had more
money. More and more money has been thrown at the numerous
'current education reIorm quackery oI the day, but any signiIicant
improvement has been very scarce or missing altogether. Other
Sorellian lies include that the ethanol process is a positive one (costs
more to produce than it is worth notwithstanding the environmental
negatives,) or that solar or wind energy can replace conventional
'demand power plants, or that Keynesian Economics actually works as
advertised and on and on.
It is incumbent on us (our responsibility) to learn enough to see through
the lies oI 'our leaders when they occur so that we can stop their
schemes beIore they become so entrenched that it is nearly impossible to
do so. Using a 'what`s in it Ior them skeptical approach to new
government initiatives is a good way to start. The chieI motives seem to
involve more control over our lives and selI-enrichment Ior the
schemers. The two are oIten combined in these initiatives.