Self Deception

HAGIOGRAPHY, history which makes the subject matter seem virtuous, is everywhere, because we humans have a limitless capacity for self deception. We resist the truth, said goethe, only because we would perish if we accepted it.

For years after the fall of saigon in march, 1975, some people, perhaps many people, refused to believe that the a mighty united states of america had actually lost the war in viet nam. Finally, of course, everyone came to accept the reality of it, while the former north vietnamese communists go about the business of governing the entire country, north and south.

It is still widely believed, or at least claimed among american conservatives that ronald reagan "won" the cold war, that strange little dance america did with russia, then called "the soviet union", from nineteen forty seven through nineteen ninety.

Since there was no real war, there were no winners and losers, fortunately, and the profound changes which took place in europe beginning with the fall of the berlin wall had much more to do with internal politic and economic situations insided the soviet union and europe, than with ronald reagan's alleged bravery and brilliance. When bad diplomacy turns good, all are winners.

We americans still can't see fit to teach our children that thomas jefferson's second wife was black, that he loved her very much for forty three years, that abraham lincoln visited prostitutes, or that ronald reagan showed definite signs of senility his second term.

Obviously we all need our self deception. The question is, how far do we carry it?