Whom Do You Know that Buys Junk and Sells Antiques?

It is so easy today to detect falseness in organizations and individuals. Wait, or is it? Many get duped into investing in Ponzi schemes or pyramid marketing scams. Others donate money to supposedly worthwhile causes or even faith based congregations only to be to be disappointed in how little of their hard-earned dollars went to the cause and most to administration costs and overhead.

Euphemisms appear to be growing at an increasing rate. A means by which to detour the mind and soften the definition of the right actions of others. It is amusing when leaders describe a colleague as having relayed misinformation or committed terminological inexactitude. No, your colleague told a lie.

Years ago, when accepting employment for a now dissolved drug store chain, all applicants needed to perform a truth verification module. Soon, all employees routinely participated in this endeavor. Let us call it what it is, a lie detector test.

Genuine imitation leather? It is vinyl. You are dining on Chilean Sea Bass, no you are not, it is a Patagonian Toothfish.

It then becomes a matter of perception or deception. Marketing gurus are exceptionally talented at swaying individuals to buy into their service or products. People twist words to serve their interests. The shop that buys junk and sells antiques. The carbonated beverage that claims to be the real thing. A guy drinking a can of beer says, “You know guys it doesn’t get any better than this.” A brand of the car once claimed that their car is something that you can believe in. A hamburger chain claims you deserve a break today…to eat a fast food burger? You answer your phone; they tell you it is a courtesy call. No, it is not, they want something from you.

Of course, it is important for our well-being to be wary of potential deception. It becomes a matter of perception and deception. Not only is it important to detect and evaluate the intentions of others, but we must look at ourselves with an equal amount of ambition. Consider it a good therapy to see in ourselves what we see in others and conversely to see in others what we in our traits, actions, and beliefs.

Do you feel that perhaps, you are fighting against the established system? Do you feel attacked by it? If so, you are a part of the scheme. Most of us are.

Stop fighting the system that is pointless, and begin fighting for yourself, that is what makes sense.