The ugly truth

Advanced English V

“The Ugly Truth”

Prof. Brian Paterson

Eduardo González Avila
6117
5th A

Ensenada B.C. August 25th 2009

“The Ugly Truth”
Since mankind began to keep records of history, all the people, but mostly the people with powerful positions, such as kings, queens, emperors and several others, have tampered with the information recorded in historical documents and presented to thepeople to protect their own personal interests, manipulate their country and control the crowds. This practice has endured over the years, still existing in the actual days. Every single person in this world has lied at least once, distorting the reality to adapt it to their interests, and to create illusions that make people have and believe in a different version of what really happened or whatreally is. Everybody should always tell the truth, even if it sounds like a utopia, because by doing this, we would live in a world of reality and certainty, getting rid of the illusions and deceptions created by lies and dishonesty.
As well as there are many advantages, there are also some disadvantages of always telling the truth.
By being honest, people develop a sense of responsibility andrespect, because this is actually a challenge, but those who do tell the truth are accepting the consequences, either good or bad for them, of their actions, therefore respecting other people’s ideas, integrity and feelings.
By being dishonest, reality is distorted, and can cause damage to people either in a direct or indirect way. Not physical damage but emotional and psychological, but lies can alsobe used to prevent this damage, because as we all know, truth can be harsh.
This aspect can also be one of the main reasons of lying. If one of your friends had a terminal disease and just a few days of life left, would you tell him of his situation? Or would you lie to him, hiding the real aspects of the situation to keep him comfortable and not worried for what he has left?
There are thousandsof examples about historical lying, involving all aspects of human culture; some examples are religion, historical documents, treaties, etc. As we can see, the human relations and society are based in deception.
A religious example is the holy bible, the main religious compilation of books for the Catholic, Christian, Protestant, Orthodox, Jehovah’s witnesses, and Jew religions. This book consistsof many texts, all written by many different authors who lived in different years, some even thousands of years apart.
The bible has not always been as it is now known, it has suffered many changes and alterations with the passing of the years, adapting to the different interests of each religion and its leaders. The main example is a meeting in Constantinople, capital of the Oriental RomanEmpire, “The Council of Nicaea” in the year 323 or 325 AD (sources differ on the date), where the emperor Constantine the great, along with more than three hundred wise men, religious authorities and his personal advisors revised thoroughly each and every text, manuscript, book, and engraving related to the Christian religion, so they would carefully chose those which were useful for their purposes,and dispose of those which were not. The great majority of these were destroyed, regardless of public opinion and beliefs, never to be seen again because there were no copies; but some actually survived this process, either by being hid or copied by their authors. This way they formed the new testament of the bible, including all the information that gave them control and power, and excluding thatwhich did not. This left the believers believing in what was an outright deception.
Perhaps having preserved all the real information would have had worse consequences, because it would have created controversy and differences between the people and this may have led to a greater conflict. But in the end, the truth would remain as the only real thing.
There are hundreds of other examples,...