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chriswei.com

Mentor, Educator, Author, & Artist
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Blog:  Food for Thought

Hello!  Welcome to my sporadically-updated blog, "Food for Thought," in which I write about art, theology, work, politics, philosophy, etc.

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Bearing false witness.

December 17, 2011

Alan Moore wrote in V For Vendetta, "artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up."  And I think that's true.  I think that is part of what is so important about film, and art in general:  it shows us something untrue to teach us something true.

Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola tell us a lie about criminals and violence, in order to show us truths about loyalty and corruption.  J. K. Rowling tells us a lie about wizards and witches, in order to show us truths about bravery and friendship.  George Lucas tells us a lie about space farmers and an army of Teddy Bears, in order to show us truths about the battle between good and evil.

Perhaps one of the best ways to tell truth is by lying:  fiction, storytelling, mythmaking.  In this context, we really don't call it "lying" in the ethically wrong sense.  But you're saying something untrue, aren't you, so what's the difference?

The difference is, you're not trying to deceive anyone about the nature of the world (though, to be fair, some films do lie even in this sense - and I don't excuse them for it.  More on that in a second).  Deceit is the real sin.  "Bearing false witness," in the scriptural sense, is about more than just "telling untruths."  Think of the word witness.  It seems to have legal connotations.  Think of the imagery of a witness standing before a jury in a trial.  "I testify that I saw this man murder," says the witness.  If it's untrue, he's being a false witness.  When we talk about bearing false witness, we're talking about misleading fabrication.  We're talking about covering up, omitting, or even changingyour portrayal of the truth so that your audience believes something false and acts accordingly.

I believe people do this every day.  We live in a world of false witnesses, and it is inexcusable.  Let me offer a few examples.

Pretending to be romantically interested in someone when you're not is bearing false witness.  Often this is done on accident, but typically the intent is "I want to be nice."

It's nicer to be honest.

You may wonder what is so bad after all about this.  "Playing interested when you're not, it's just flirting," you say.  "Not lying."  Well, according to the Dictionary, flirting islying:

 

1.  to court triflingly or act amorously without serious intentions; play at love.
2.  to trifle or toy, as with an idea: She flirted with the notion of buying a sports car.
3.  to move with a jerk or jerks; dart about: butterflies flirting from flower to flower.
Is this how we ought to treat other human beings?  Consider some of those words above.  Play.  Trifle.  Dart about.

If you're religious, I'd like you to consider God's example.  How does he deal with us?  In the King Follett Discourse of April 1844, Joseph Smith proclaimed:  "God is not trifling with you or me."  I believe that.  Why then, should we trifle with each other?

I want to make a side note here that I don't consider myself innocent of the condemnations I'm throwing on the rest of the human race:  I flirt, too.  I bear false witness.  I'm just as guilty of all this as the next guy, but you know what?  It is not a good thing to do and we should all just stop lying to each other.

On the opposite end of the spectrum:  it is also bearing false witness when you pretend to be uninterested and you really are interested.  We call this "playing hard to get," and it's bullcrap.  It you want to date someone, be forward.  Make it visible.  If they don't respond positively, they're not for you anyway.  Do you really want to be with someone who is turned off by how much you like them?  That sounds like a terrible relationship.

"But playing hard to get," you say, "is just part of the game.  They know I'm interested; I'm just making them work for it.  Aren't I worth the effort?"  Well, how do I put this delicately... no.  You're not.

Despite what the romantic comedies are teaching you (ah, there's an example of deceitful films as mentioned above), no relationship ought to be built on a foundation of lies.  When old people tell their dating stories and everyone laughs at the little lies and games and manipulations, I always feel all sorts of uncomfortable.  We're reacting as if it's cute.  Your husband was so persistent even in the face of all your rejections, how adorable!

No.  It's not adorable.

Bearing false witness isn't cute.  It isn't funny.  And it isn't okay.

Older Posts →

Film Review Archive:

  • 2018
    • Dec 28, 2018 'Tangerine': a heartbreaking, stressful, and hilarious Christmas film.
    • Dec 5, 2018 'Shoplifters': an embrace and a rebuke.
    • Nov 15, 2018 'Suspiria' is a hell of a thing.
    • Oct 30, 2018 Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
    • Oct 22, 2018 'BlacKkKlansman' is a fabrication. That's why it's so good.
    • Oct 21, 2018 Brief thoughts: 'It Comes at Night.'
    • Aug 25, 2018 Why did 'Crazy Rich Asians' make me cry?
    • Jul 9, 2018 'Gun Crazy' isn't (just) about sex.
    • Jul 6, 2018 Brief thoughts: 'The Exorcist.'
    • Jul 3, 2018 'Blue': not just a blue screen.
    • Jun 12, 2018 'Jurassic World' doesn't understand 'Jurassic Park.'
    • Mar 21, 2018 'Anatomy of a Murder' is about playing games.
    • Jan 19, 2018 The reverence and dominance of 'Kill Bill' in a fish-and-sake bar.
    • Jan 3, 2018 'City Lights' and the (in)vulnerability of accommodation.
  • 2017
    • Dec 26, 2017 'The Last Jedi': iconoclastic and iconic.
    • Oct 7, 2017 'Detroit' is a nightmare.
    • Jul 21, 2017 Marathon review: the 'Planet of the Apes' franchise.
    • Jun 28, 2017 Deeply satisfying: 'Baby Driver'.
    • Jun 12, 2017 'Wonder Woman' on paradise, persistence, and the Devil.
    • May 28, 2017 Marathon review: the 'Alien' franchise.
    • May 15, 2017 Marathon review: Hayao Miyazaki's filmography
    • Apr 9, 2017 Marathon review: the 'Fast and Furious' franchise
    • Mar 25, 2017 'Swiss Army Man': the best film of 2016.
    • Mar 4, 2017 'Fargo' and a case against empathy.
    • Feb 12, 2017 'John Wick: Chapter 2' is a beautiful mess.
    • Jan 12, 2017 'Rogue One' and the cruelty of brevity.
  • 2014
    • Apr 11, 2014 Selling your soul for a cupcake: 'Once Upon A Time In America'
    • Apr 10, 2014 Christopher Nolan's debut: 'Following'
    • Apr 9, 2014 'All Is Lost': a meditation on regret.
    • Mar 14, 2014 '12 Years A Slave' deserves to be seen, but only if you're prepared for it.
    • Mar 13, 2014 Go watch 'Gravity' right now.
    • Mar 12, 2014 'City Lights' and the exaltation of romance.
    • Mar 5, 2014 'The Lego Movie' and the ontology of specialness.
    • Feb 19, 2014 'Days Of Heaven': a Heideggerian masterpiece.
    • Feb 19, 2014 In 'Walk The Line', approval is a drug.
    • Feb 12, 2014 'The Act of Killing': a horrifying, challenging, important work.
    • Feb 12, 2014 'The Thin Red Line' and the meaning of meaninglessness.
    • Feb 12, 2014 'Doubt' asks a lot of questions.
    • Feb 12, 2014 'Her' is about love, technology, existentialism, and God.
    • Feb 12, 2014 Some puritanical musings on 'Manhattan'.
    • Feb 12, 2014 'Malcolm X': sprawling, uneven, powerful.
  • 2013
    • Nov 6, 2013 'Ender's Game' and contextual consumption.
    • Apr 4, 2013 'The Road' asks if we're the good guys.
    • Jan 31, 2013 'The Raid: Redemption' has no discipline.
  • 2012
    • Feb 8, 2012 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' is pornographic.
    • Jan 20, 2012 'Real Steel': technology as detachment.
  • 2011
    • Jul 15, 2011 There's no more magic in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2.'
  • 2010
    • Jul 17, 2010 'Inception' on reality, faith, and ideological power.

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