Dr. Lawrence Gelman

EDINBURG, Aug. 18 - Mythology is something not true but once believed true. Falsehoods believed true and certain are indistinguishable within the human mind from that which is actually true. 

It is so easy to laugh at those in the past who believed in the "gods" of Mount Olympus or that the world was flat. Our understanding of the world is much advanced but are we actually smarter than our ancestors simply because we know more.

Unfortunately that is not the case. Human psychology and emotion remain unchanged over the eons of time. Love, hate, envy, jealousy, greed, fear, happiness, sadness unchanged whether transportation is by horse and buggy or rocket ship. There is nothing special about the way modern man's thought processes function. Our psychology is identical to that of ancient man, our emotions the same, desires the same, prejudices the same. 

Man is as susceptible to propaganda now as ever. We are as susceptible to myth as our ancestors and it is only the content of the myth that has changed not our ability to discern myth from truth. Therefore, government generated mythology effects so much of what we believe, and determines, to a great extent, the manner in which we behave. No wonder the depth of irrationality associated with so much within the public discourse.

Do not believe yourself so much smarter than man in the Dark Ages. It was the uncommon thought that raised awareness to the truth, not the average. It was the uncommon man that created the means to fly not the average man. Now we all benefit and accept flight, taking it for granted, forgetting that at one time most acknowledged it as truism that man was never meant to fly and laughed at it and derided those who believed otherwise. 

Now we hold those disbelievers in contempt though they were in the majority at the time, and the odds are that the vast majority of us today, if we had lived then, would have sided with the benighted masses. We are as prone to propaganda, myths and lies as those who lived centuries ago. If this were not the case how do con men succeed? How does a Bernie Madoff steal from so many "smart" people? How do plaintiffs' attorneys accrue millions of dollars in settlement fees making provably false claims if judges and juries were not so easily misled and fooled? And of course the greatest con men of all time are politicians.

Politicians are such effective con men that they can even persuade us to sacrifice our very lives to benefit the very same politicians who spend most of the rest of their time devising means of stealing from and enslaving those from whom they demand and receive that sacrifice. And the most amazing aspect is that they are such accomplished con men and women that the citizens actually re-elect them.  

Let’s observe some of today's so called great issues and illustrate how thoroughly we have been ensnared by myth.

Jobs. A great clamor arises for the need to have jobs. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, as one of the great charlatans of our time is famously quoted to have said. Yet Communist countries such as Cuba and the ex-Soviet Union, which though boasting of 100 percent employment, had populations most of whom lived in abject poverty. Of what value is a job if production is lacking? A job in and of itself is without value unless it produces something of value or creates the means to obtain something of value. For example, the Kings of Europe who lived during the Middle Ages were the wealthiest people in the world in terms of gold, silver and possessions. Yet they lacked air conditioning, automobiles, cell phones and succumbed to diseases which today are easily cured. Nowadays, even those considered to be poor have access to that which was unavailable to the Kings who lived just 100 years ago. And there were plenty of jobs back in those days.

The great political discourse is steeped in the myths surrounding jobs and not upon the truths. Inevitably, since the premises are false the solutions are false and counterproductive. Yet here we are embroiled in this great political debate in which reality is unrecognized and ignored. So the government goes about solving the problem, which by the way government policies created, making jobs where one group digs a ditch and another group fills it in. That is the perfect government job devised by the typical government brain. Unending, meaningless, performed by the masses, grateful to the politician that "did something" to help solve the problem.   Unfortunately, to pay for the digging and filling of the ditch wherewithal is taken from those who are truly productive which reduces their productivity.

As true productivity declines the availability of product decreases becoming either more expensive or even unavailable. So of what use is getting paid to dig a ditch and fill a ditch if the salary derived does not provide the means to obtain a product of value. We have all become as the kings of olden times, all dressed up and nowhere to go. In the future weeks we will look at all the mythologies that the government has fooled us into thinking is reality: healthcare, energy, foreign policy, immigration, and education.

Dr. Lawrence Gelman is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist and critical care specialist practicing in McAllen for 25 years. He writes a weekly column for the Guardian.

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