Why I Will Not Shut Up

Truth is the Greatest Enemy of Totalitarians and Tyrants

In preparation for leading one study group and participating in another, I’ve been reading again Rod Dreher’s Live Not by Lies. (I also subscribe to and read his substack, which I heartily recommend.) The book has me reflecting how much truth is the enemy of totalitarians and of other tyrants and is probably the most effective weapon against them.

The importance of truth was an emphasis of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  His famous essay on the occasion of his exile from the Soviet Union was titled “Live Not by Lies.”  In that and elsewhere he drove home how totalitarians depend on lies and hate and suppress truth.

He once famously said about the Communists — and here dark Russian humor shows through:

We know that they are lying.

They know that they are lying.

They even know that we know they are lying.

We also know that they know we know they are lying too.

They of course know that we certainly know they know we know they are lying too as well.

But they are still lying.

But lying is not enough for totalitarians and their toadies.  To succeed in their lies, they are compelled to suppress the truth, even punish it.

We see this in the outrage from Democrats and allied establishment Republicans Mitch McConnell, Mitch Romney and Thom Tillis over the release of the January 6th videos and Tucker Carlsen using them to expose lies about January 6th.

We see this in a yet another French politician being prosecuted for telling the obvious truth that the mass immigration of recent years is dangerous and deadly.

We see this in any number of authorities coming down on those who refuse to acknowledge more than two genders.

We see this as the “Censorship-Industrial Complex” has become more exposed this week, thanks to Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi.  Some Democrats aren’t happy about that either.

I could go on and on as you know.  And you probably could, too.

They so lie and hate the truth that they demand we lie, too, or at least shut up.  “‘Shut up,’ they argue” is a joke, but one close to reality.

Well, I will not shut up.

Now do I think everyone should be as outspoken as I am?  No.  As St. Paul wrote, we have differing roles and talents. Solzhenitsyn also wrote that it was not feasible or desirable that all go into the public square and shout the truth.

But we are all indeed called to live not by lies.  That will look different from person to person.  Still especially us Christians should remember God hates lies whereas tyrants, especially the Tyrant, love lies.

Whose side are you on?

It’s not for nothing that Jesus said, “I am the Truth, the Way and the Life.  No one comes to the Father but by Me.”

Of course, the most important applications of Jesus’ proclamation, the most important ways of following Him, are not political.  But look around and see that totalitarians want to control all of society with their lies.  They want to make all things political to serve their power-hungry ends.  See that their lies have infiltrated the church, that much of the institutional church even cheerleads totalitarian lies, particularly those of Critical Theory.

Yacov Smirnoff told another dark Russian joke: “You may not be interested in the Party, but the Party is interested in you!”  When those of a totalitarian mindset gain enough power in a society as now, their lies are impossible to avoid.  Even if you are averse to politics, you will have to make a choice about going along with their lies or not.

You all don’t have to be an annoying hothead like me, and I hope that most of you are not.  You all don’t have to be as political as I can be, and I hope most of you are not. Heck, I wish I could be less political!

But the choice between lies and truth cannot be evaded. Totalitarians and other lying tyrants will force you to choose.  The Tyrant, the Father of Lies, will force you to choose just as he did in the Garden and has ever since.

So what will you choose?

I choose to be an enemy of tyrants.  I choose to be an enemy of the Tyrant.

I choose truth.

—-

UPDATE:
Naomi Wolf, a woman of the Left it is safe to say, has written a heartfelt apology for believing so many of the lies and siding with them.  It is an excellent essay with some interesting history.  Go read it!