Tell Me Lies

This decline into deceit began rather mildly with a rather innocuous belief in diplomacy. The idea was to not hurt someone elses feelings even if you didnt agree with them. So we were taught to compliment our sweet old aunts blue rinse perm. Praise your best friends shiny purple pinafore. And tell your tone-deaf cousin that his violin recital rivalled a maestros work. It worked out quite well,your parents were praised for having raised well-behaved children and you won friends and influenced cousins.

Unfortunately,its all downhill once you set foot on the slippery slope of double standards. Today,the level of insincerity has quickly declined into a malaise of falsehoods. Praise is expected at all costs and so what if you havent upped your game,the compliments had better still keep coming. How else are you expected to stay motivated to do your job? We have become so indolent that we now expect external stimulus to drive every action.

But misplaced narcissistic issues aside,the reason this disconnect from reality is alarming is it has extended to exaggeration. It is no longer good enough to be tactful,now you have to be over-effusive. There is no such thing as a lovely dress. It must be the most exquisite. Your artwork cannot be nice,it has to be amazing. And your competent musical performance cannot get away with applause,now it has to receive a standing ovation. For the few rarities who live their lives with integrity this fulsomeness is actually quite stressful. Not only is it perjury,the delivery also has to be so-over-the-top that you end up fearing arrest for being counterfeit.

We now live in an era dominated by brand me. There is an entire generation of egotistical people who believe the fiction they have demanded to be reared on. There is so much hot air in the stratosphere as a result of this hyperbole that this is perhaps the single greatest cause for the hole in the ozone layer.

Add to this the intolerable reality that candour is so reviled that it has actually been downgraded to malevolence,and you end up with a society full of fakes. I find it offensive that having an honest opinion that deviates from the eulogy is now disregarded as malicious jealousy.

If you are blunt to a fault,you often share the same tag as a dog of the female persuasion. That doesnt seem fair or right,or terribly polite. When did a straightforward review get such bad press?

My theory for this decline of human behaviour is simple. We are now a society driven by mediocrity. We publish before editing and release before reviewing because we are in a hurry to get past the fact that most of what we deliver is substandard. We are no longer willing to put in the time to make something extraordinary. All our energy is expended in creating smokes and mirrors. After all,a really average piece of art will sell for at least 20 times its worth if a tabloid splashes images of the artist all over the front page.

Criticism is the kryptonite of the run of the mill,it destroys the mundane. And this is the real fear that abounds today. God forbid you are told to go back to the drawing board. It could mean you would be forced to put in real effort. Being commonplace is so much less work. So everyone hides behind praise. I suspect the receivers of applause know that there is a person holding up a clap card in the background but they no longer care. They want to believe in the myth that they have created. And if it is a bald-faced lie,so be it in time they can persuade themselves that it was nothing short of the sworn truth.

Whats really sad is a lot of people will post this article on Facebook. They will click on like thinking that it doesnt apply to them. In fact,they will secretly smirk and assume it was addressed to their neighbour. So here is the truth: This column is written for you.

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