Paradox Point

         From the Annals of “The National Liar”:        Discreditorial for October 31, 1995          No, Virginia             Dear Discreditor:           All my friends keep telling me about Santa Claus; how he’ll come and give me toys and candy and lots of other wonderful gifts. They say I’ll get this loot if I act as if I’m a good little girl; then Santa will be fooled and he’ll reward me.           But I’ve been thinking lately, so now I wonder. Can Santa Claus really see all the children? All over the world? And even if he can, how does he figure out who’s naughty and who’s nice? And how does he make all those presents? And how can he get them to us on time? And isn’t it just a bit wicked to bribe little children to pretend they’re good? ...

           From the Annals of the National Liar V1#1, October 31, 1994             Nuclear War!   No Survivors             Washington – Early this morning, nuclear war broke out between the United States and the Soviet Union. In a furious exchange of deadly thermonuclear explosives, the two superpower societies quickly destroyed each other, civilization, the human species, and life on Earth.           “Finally, the other shoe dropped,” said Ronald Reagan, four times President of the United States and architect of its annihilation. “Well, it’s all over now.”           “Life was good,” said Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. “For a moment there I thought we could make peace; but in the end it turned out that the people and their leaders preferred death....

           From the annals of the National Liar           V2#2, October 31, 1995           Three Pillars of Pseudocracy             Pseudocracy is government of the lies, by the lies, and for the lies; it is where yes becomes no, up becomes down, bad becomes good, and true becomes false. Naturally pseudocracy is paradoxical; double-think is how it (un) works.           Pseudocracy, being a form of government (albeit the worst one) has three manifestations; via the Sword, the Coin, or the Pen – that is, by force, by trade, or by dialog. Pseudocracy corrupts each of these, via:           Negative Justice – corrupting the State;           Counter-Efficiency – corrupting the ...

                 From the annals of the National Liar           V1#1, October 31, 1994         Nobel Peace Prize Abolished             Stockholm, Sweden – The Nobel Peace Prize committee has unanimously agreed to award no more Peace Prizes, on the grounds that the Peace Prize is a threat to world peace.           “It’s a consistent pattern,” said one prominent committee member. “Every time we award a Peace Prize, war breaks out. It seems that politicians stay on their best behavior until we, in effect, give them the go-ahead.”           “It’s not too surprising, given the quality of the recipients. We’ve awarded many more Peace Prizes to terrorists than to saints. Consider for instance Arafat; or for that matter ...

The Amorous Arsonist   Once upon a time a man fell passionately in love with a firefighter. But he feared to approach his beloved; so instead he set fires just to see his beloved arrive to put those fires out, while he watched from hiding. But one day the firefighter found him out. The firefighter said, “Who in Hell do you think you are? I never knew you. Get out of my sight!”    Moral: Love honestly or not at all.   Comment: Some Evangelicals celebrate disaster as a sign of the second coming of Christ. Evidently they haven’t thought this through. Their perversity inspired me to write this fable. Consider it as a reductio-ad-absurdum refutation of their ideology.    

              From the Annals of “The National Liar”:              Judgement Day: Mankind Damned                Anytown, U.S.A.:         In a surprise move last Tuesday, the Lord God Almighty passed judgement on the entire human race. The judgement was negative; and in consequence, the planet Earth was obliterated, all mortal life destroyed, and every human soul damned for all eternity.           “There’s just no pleasing some people,” said J.R.”Bob” Dobbs, Mome of the Noman Particular Church. “Who does He think He is?”           The Lord’s vengeance was swift and terrible. Atheists were annihilated, agnostics eviscerated, and followers of false prophets roasted slowly over an open flame. Only believers in the One True Faith were spared; unfortunatel...