Heh. Too funny!
THE TAO OF GONZO (a.k.a., The Spiritual Side of Twisting the Truth)
Verse 1:
“I now understand that there was a conversation between me and the President.” –Tao of Gonzo, Apr 19, 2007
Ah, yes. Here we are introduced to a moment of deep spiritual contemplation. There are times in our lives, he is saying, when we understand the experiences we have when we are having them. I ate a sandwich, I understand. I drive to work, I understand. But there are other times when we have an experience, but we do not understand the experience as such at the time. For argument’s sake, we could call these “moments we are breaking the law.” For example, if we are having a conversation with the President and his advisers about illegally circumventing the authority of Congress, it may be difficult to understand that it is happening at the time. One might say, I am having this conversation, but is this really me? Is this really a conversation? Is this really a law and if it is not a law, then can I be breaking this law in this conversation that may or may not be happening? These are moments of spiritual drift, vagueness of identity. Am I undermining the Constitution? Hard to say. Am I in violating the public trust? Hard to say. Am I in charge of my own actions? Not clear. They are moments of great spiritual questioning, wonderment, lack of understanding.
It is only when we revisit these moments of spiritual doubt under duress of, say, being convicted of perjury by a Senate committee–only in these moments does our spiritual fuzziness snap into sudden focus. Ah, yes! Like rings on the duck pond, the ambiguity recedes to the shores of self-doubt, leaving behind a moment of clarity. Indeed it was a conversation. Indeed it was the President. Indeed it was a conversation. “I understand that there was a conversation between me and the President.” Which is to say, “Now, unlike before, I am able to see. I can understand that my own actions were indeed actions and that I did indeed experience them.” I understand, now.
One Response
It sounds odd. And it is. But Gonzo’s behavior is a habit of this administration: truth as assertion of authority. What Gonzo is assenting here is that the committee examining him is making an assertion and has authority to do so. If we view every speech act of the administration in a similar vein, we realize that when they say ” all eggs are green” the truth in the expression exists by virtue of the authority they have to to say it. Grant that authority and it is true. This method of thinking conveniently allows them to actually believe things that have no basis in physical experience, things that, in fact, are contradicted by physical experience. “Truth” as convenient narrative construct..*
This cognitive trick got them where they are now, in all senses. It is the basis of their power – deriving from the Newt idea of control of language. And if there is any justice in this world, it will seal their doom as an administration with so much as a shred of credibility.
—
*When the truth does not conform with fact, rewrite history. Hence dubya’s act of palletizing and shrink-wrapping all records from his office that accrued during his term as governor. These he then moved to a private holding area in his father’s library. This act broke Texss statel law. In the end he lost the suit and the records were returned to the state for indexing. per Kevin Phillips American Dynasty.