IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: Of Baseballs and Candidates...

This is an interesting screenshot from ESPN's Monday Night Football coverage last night that I feel is pertinent to this article.

Well everyone, it has been an interesting 3 weeks since my last post.  However, not interesting enough to warrant me posting over that time.  You see, unless you've been living on the moon, there are two things that have been dominating our culture's collective conversation over the last month: Baseball and the Election.  With Major League Baseball making their way to the World Series (which begins tomorrow!) and the 2012 Presidential Election coming down to the wire with the debates of the major candidates, the first half of this month has certainly had the media in a frenzy trying to cover what happened.  And they didn't seem to cover much else (at least in any great detail!).  I have never really cared for sports and so it really makes no difference to me which teams will be playing in the World Series.  That being said (and the fact that I call the San Francisco Bay Area home), congratulations must be given to the San Francisco Giants.  And it probably would be nice to see them win it all again.  But as I said, I don't really care.  That was the first reason for my silence these last few weeks.  The other was the Election.

Now a major Presidential Election is important and I would it expect it to be a dominant story no matter what else is going on in the world (except maybe a World War or perhaps a severe geological disaster!).  I try not to discuss politics on this blog, mainly because that is not the purpose of a blog that focuses on Arts and Entertainment.  However, I cannot ignore something that has been an integral part of the culture.  And so I have to speak.  There was once a time in our country when the Presidential debates mattered.  Television was a fairly new thing when most people felt that the televised Presidential debate of 1960 between then-Senator John F. Kennedy and then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon basically swung voters from one side to the other (and we know how close that Election was!).  And we all learned in our Elementary School history classes about the legend that was the Lincoln-Douglas debates.  But over these weeks, I've discovered something.  I believe our current climate and 24/7 media has rendered a Presidential (or even Vice Presidential debate) useless.  You see, after talking to some people and reading the numerous tweets and status updates following each debate (and there were A LOT!), I realized that nothing said in the debates changed anyone's mind.  I mean, the ones who were extremely liberal were still going to vote to give President Barack Obama a second term.  And the ones who were not as pleased with the last four years, were still going to vote for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.  Most of my "undecided" friends and acquaintances still consider themselves in that category and some are even going as far as to write-in other candidates (because they are disillusioned by the entire 2-party system, which is a discussion for another time!).  With two weeks left until Election Day, both candidates seem to be in a sort of "Dead Heat" with no signs of it going one way or the other at this moment (which is certainly frustrating to all the news outlets out there from FOX News to MSNBC!).  It seems that both sides (Democrats or Republicans, Liberals or Conservatives, etc.) dug their heels in even more and just slung a little more mud (calling each other "liars" or "ineffectual").

So I have to ask: what good did the debates do if most of the voters (who already knew most of their preferred candidate's proposed policies well before October) didn't really open themselves up to the other side's point of view? Or even more constructively, open up to a possible compromise?  My aunt went as far as to compare the vitriol out there to the rabidness sports fans have when supporting their favorite team.  And I couldn't help but laugh at the irony that (through the wonder that is the scheduling of October 2012!) the MLB Playoffs were occurring at the same time as both political parties were spewing their venom as the candidates made their respective cases.  As I said, I don't really like to get political and it was one of the major reasons I did not post these last few weeks.  But I could not ignore such an important moment in the culture without stating something I feel we all need to think about.  Are we in a cultural vacuum when it comes to politics?  Has the competitiveness we often see in Sports (and sometimes Oscar season!) made its way into how we choose our Government?  Or are we in such a hole (economically, militarily, environmentally, etc.) that the patience we so desperately need is not enough to subside the anger that is out there (on both sides of the aisle!)?  These are just questions to think about, I am not advocating one over the other.  Just bear these in mind when you fill out your ballot on Election Day.

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: Tell Me Lies...

We've heard them all.  People use them all the time.  In fact, the advent of new kinds of media has been accused (accurately or inaccurately) of increasing the volume of them.  I'm talking about the art of telling lies. It goes back as far as Adam and Eve (you know when Eve asked Adam if her fig leaf made her look fat and he told her "No.").  Entertainers, Celebrities, Athletes and (duh!) Politicians have lied to us so many times that it's become "old hat" in our culture.  They've even told lies upon lies.  Some of them have become very inventive and creative in their lying that you just have to marvel at their dishonest artistry.  In my years as a so-called "Pop Culture Critic," I have deciphered that there are 7 types of lies that are the most common.   They also get used so often that they have become the hardest types to tell if they are in fact lies.  And for a Special Note, just to show that there is no form of political bias: ALL Politicians on both sides of the aisle have used EVERY one of these types of lies making neither side superior to the other.

The Flat-Out Denial - This is the obvious one.  It's like when the kid breaks his mother's vase and says: "I didn't do it."  Or when a notable criminal, who they have clear evidence of committing the crime, pleads "Not Guilty" in court.  It is fairly straightforward, but it is a type of lie nonetheless.

The Lie by Omission - Another really common one.  It's when a person withholds certain (most likely pertinent) information that is often in some shady gray area on the moral compass.  It probably stems from the hostile and antagonistic relationship between interrogators and suspects (you know: Anything you say can be used against you... or Just state your Name, Rank and Serial Number... and the like).

The Lie of Definitions - This is a term I coined myself when I was in High School.  Another term for it could be "Mincing Words."  And those who know me, know that I love a good "Word Mince."  Two of the best examples of it that I can think of are both political and were both in the 1990s (and were the impetus for the coining of the term!).  President George H. W. Bush infamously said in a speech that there would be "No New Taxes."  The important word in that statement being "New."  He didn't create new taxes, he just raised a lot of the older, already established taxes...for the middle and lower classes.  Later that same decade, President Bill Clinton sparked a national debate on the definition of "Sex" when he was asked if he had sex with intern Monica Lewinsky and said "No," meaning that he did not have sexual intercourse with her which (technically) was true.  He had, however, engaged in oral sex with the woman in the confines of the Oval Office.  In both cases, the Former Presidents weren't (technically) lying based on what they said, but the spirit of their statements were torpedoed by the actual truth.

The Little White Lie - This one is probably the most common as we all have done it.  And usually, it is not done with malicious intent.  More often it is done to spare someone's feelings or keep the peace between certain people (like families, friends or co-workers!).  The best example is when you go to see a friend's concert or stage performance and it is not very good, but you tell them they did a "Good Job!" just so they don't feel bad.  Its also often called "the tiny little fib."  It is not to be confused with...

The Snowball Lie - Also known as "The House that Jenga Built."  This is when you tell what you think is a little fib, but then you have to tell another lie to keep up with the original.  And then another.  And another.  And another until it becomes a lie to big to handle.  Conspiracies tend to fall in this category as, in most cases, they are made up of small (and sometimes NOT so small) lies to cover up one huge and usually illegal truth.  Sorry to say kiddies, but the whole "Santa Claus" myth tends to fall under this category.  Rather fitting when Santa and Snowballs come together!

The Inference Allowance - This one is often a combination of some of the types I've already mentioned.  And its such a gray area that it needs its own special category.  Its basically when you allow somebody to think something you know for a fact is not true, but you just don't correct them.  It can happen through omission, denial or pure semantics (re: mincing words!), but it does happen.  In popular culture, it often happens when a famed celebrity couple divorces.  Our media is so hungry for there to be a "bad guy" in the situation that one of the couple (most often the guy) allows the media to paint them as say a cheater or a deadbeat or an emotionally distant jerk.  Therefore, the public infers what they think is the truth (or more precisely what they've been told is the truth) and it is just never corrected.

The Lie to the Telemarketer - I do this one all the time...and I don't feel one twinge of remorse about it.  This is the most acceptable of all types of lies!  Who cares if one lies to a Telemarketer?  Its not like they're gonna come after you.  And even if they did, you could probably gather a whole group of people who would be on your side and they'd lie to protect you!

Now, you may be wondering: "What the hell does all this mean anyway?"  You're thinking that a lie is a lie and it doesn't matter whether its by omission or mincing words or a tiny fib, its still wrong.  And on some level, you're right.  But the purpose of all this is that in this day and age where everyone tends to lie (and even lie about lying!), dissecting the different types of lies might bring us all to a better understanding and weed out those who lie for their own gain (cause lying to a Telemarketer will always be acceptable!).  Now, for your listening and viewing entertainment, watch Fleetwood Mac's 1980s hit "Little Lies" because...well I need to finish this article with something!