Honest Lies

I know this individual. He prides himself on keeping abreast of current affairs. That's cool, but he also has contemptuous attitude about reading fiction. I'm sure you've experienced the attitude before. When some of us in a group discuss books, this person has flatly stated, "If you want to read, read the paper".

I used to read and watch the news more than I do now. These days my heart can barely stand to do it. It's too disheartening, and besides, I have become convinced that the news is full of half truths. If not outright lies.

Ever see an article about a situation that you have intimate knowledge about? Did you notice that much of it is utter bullshit?

I suppose one could sift through all the news sources and attempt to diffuse some sort of informed opinion. If he or she had the time to do so. To me, so much of it is propaganda.

On one recent occasion, the person in question was saying that he preferred to know what was going on in the world instead of reading a bunch of lies.

I replied that all writers are professional liars, but at least writers of fiction write honest lies.

Honest Lies. I like that. It would make a good title for a short story collection.

Did my argument work? What do you think? Does anyone ever win an argument? Maybe, but it's as rare as a good horror sequel.

Now, I know that people online are thick-skinned and slow to anger, but I want to emphasize that I am not putting down people who read/watch the news. To be honest I check out CNN.com nearly every day. You better believe that I take what I read with a grain of salt the size of the Dead Sea. My contempt is for those who snub the reading of fiction.