Harmful Untruths

Growing up lies were bad, the truth was good. But this line has been blurred in many ways. I see the protective and gratifying nature that the foma can have, but I also see the destruction. In Cat’s Cradle the people of San Lorenzo protect themselves from the poverty surrounding through to safe lies Bokononism offers. However, they don’t make their situations any better, and ultimately the lies are what destroy them, leading them all to commit suicide. I see a connection there to Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell used the foma to convince himself that the bears needed him, that he was somehow their protector. But these self-deceptive lies ultimately led him to his death. He was so sure that the bears would never harm him because he was ‘one of them’. The ‘harmless untruths’ aren’t always all that harmless. Lies are dangerous and difficult to navigate.

I don’t like the idea of needing to lie to yourself just to be happy. I feel like happiness should come without that. If you have to lie, are you really happy? To me it just seems like a fake layer, living without really living. Living by the foma seems like living in a dreamland, sure it’s happy but it’s not real. But on the other side of the argument I guess some people would think it’s better to just be happy. If the truth of life is so bad then maybe lies are the better option. I don’t know, I guess it depends on the person. But I still think that no lies are all that ‘harmless’ and they definitely have a destructive nature.