Tell Kids the Truth

I don't know if this is true of other cultures, but we Americans have this thing about totally lying to ourselves. Whatever the issue is, you name it, we're willing to bullshit ourselves about it. We find a way of publicly endorsing one position -- the right position, the one that sounds good for the kids -- while secretly (or not so secretly) living the complete opposite way, the way we really want to live.

You can walk out your front door and spit, and you're likely to hit something that we're lying to ourselves about.

Homosexuality. Illegal drugs. Prostitution. Education. Talking about other countries as police states, when we imprison an increasingly huge percentage of our own population for increasingly petty offenses, and local police are used to break up legitimate protests. Waging wars on abstract concepts, like Evil and Terror. Spreading democracy through bombing. Preaching democracy to other countries, when dissent and protest are stifled and ridiculed at home. I mean jesus, ostriches look at us and are like man, those motherfuckers are in denial.

This shit drives me insane. Why is it so hard for us to be honest with ourselves and our kids? Is this the difference between common sense, and the sense God gave ya?