"Know the truth, and the truth will make you free", but what is truth? And what is myth?
Knowledge is the sum of everything we learn through experience, observation, experimentation, and communication with others. Our knowledge is constantly expanding and forever changing as we gather new information about the world around us. The most important thing we can learn is how to distinguish between what is true, and what is not. It is not an easy task and the world if filled with charlatans who will tell us lies to gain advantage over us. Sometimes, gaining knowledge can be a painful process, especially when we discover some new fact that forces us to abandon things we once believed to be true.
Opinions reflect our individual decisions about what we like and what we choose to believe in the absence of knowledge. What is the good life? What's the best career? Whom do I want to marry? What's shall I order for dinner? Which book should I read? Who should I follow, or should I follow anyone at all? An opinion is never right nor wrong, nor even true or false. The answer is different for each one of us. The danger comes when people insist their opinions are better because they are based on superior knowledge. Wars happen when people try to force other people to live by opinions they hold to be superior to what you or I may believe.
Tales are the spice of human communication. The best kind of tales are lies told for fun and to entertain. A good novel or even a short story can make a lonely night an enjoyable experience or a long ride in an airplane bearable. Like all lies, tales can be dangerous, if we start to believe they are true. When we believe a tale is true, we make the tale a myth. Sometimes believing a myth can help us escape our fear of the dark or the future, but clever charlatans use our belief in myths to convince us to give up our freedom and follow the charlatans into misery, war, and slavery. I tell tales only for fun.
In early 1995, I got curious about the militia movement. Rather than believe what I was reading in the media, I decided to find a few people who had joined such organizations and ask what they hope to achieve. Reason Magazine published the results in an article, "Extreme Prejudice: How the media misrepresent the militia movement"
Back in 1964, I and a friend, Larry Grupp, decided to talk to a few Cuban citizens in order to get their opinions about life under Castro. Reason Magazine published our report, "Viva la Evolution", in the August/September 1994 Issue.
Governments don't just inevitably fail when they attempt to resolve human problems, they also often create great human tragedies like the "Horrors of the Twentieth Century: Evil Done with the Best of Intentions".
One of the things that governments do when they try to create some vision of the perfect society is keep hate alive. I've explained why this is so in an essay "How to Keep Hate Alive".
Do you want to know "Why I'm a Libertarian"?
As I advocate that every individual is responsible for defending their freedom from all those who would take it away, I'm also a strong advocate of the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms. I've written a book advocating The Armed-Citizen Solution To Crime In the Street.
It is not just kings, generals and politicians who steal freedom. Most people lose their freedom by believing the priest, preachers, and purveyors of myths who promise a glorious eternity in heaven or a heaven here on earth if we will only obey what they command us to do. The worship of myths is such a common trait in human behavior, that I have long sought to answer the question, "Must We Have Myths to be Happy."
Every diplomat knows that "The Walls Are Listening".
Any CIA case officer can tell you that the secret to recruiting a spy is choosing "The Right Bait".
Murdauch wasn't looking for a client when a pretty woman asked him for "A Ride to Bellevue".
If you want to know more about your host here's the basic biography. Use e-mail to tell me about yourself and what you are doing to advocate freedom in your own life. macktanner@TurboNET.com
[NOTE: We have obtained permission from the author to republish this article on BuildFreedom.]
Copyright 1996--Mack Tanner. This original work may not be copied or distributed in any format without the specific consent of the author.
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