Life is an open secret. Why don’t people see what is right in front of them? Are they just stupid? When the allies reached the Auschwitz concentration camp, the Germans nearby said they didn’t know what was going on, yet they could smell the burning bodies. They bought into Hitler’s superior race myth and then chose not to know what it meant. They weren’t stupid but facts cannot change what you choose to believe. And still today, people do this. They buy into myths that suit them and then choose to see what they want to see.
Murderers believe their victims deserve it. Rapists believe their victims want it. Thieves believe their victims can afford it. All are just doing what they want to do and covering it up with a lie. Their ignorance is by choice not by lack of knowledge. To believe what you want to believe, regardless of what you actually see, hear or smell, is the real conspiracy of modern society. Life then is an open secret, known to those who want to know but not to those who don’t.
In this world, truth is a bastard rejected by those it exposes. Whistle-blowers without exception are disowned, abandoned or cast out. Isn’t it obvious that thinking based on evidence is better than trying to impose beliefs on the world? Why then was Socrates put to death? Isn’t it obvious that the rich skimming wealth from the poor but not adding value is not sustainable? Why then did it take Marx to point it out? Isn’t it obvious that people competing in a free market add value? Why then did it take Adam Smith to point that out? And isn’t it now obvious that lying and cheating for profit doesn’t benefit society, so why do we now all go along with that story when we can smell that it is wrong?