"Charlie Manson only wanted to make his house a home"- Tabitha's Secret

Let's chat about gullibility, shall we? To some degree, we're all gullible, and the reason is because we want to believe. We, as a species, are not born cynics and doubters, but trusters. Everything our parents shove down our throats from the day we're born until puberty (or thereabouts) is swallowed whole and digested as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But once our minds begin to mature, and we start experiencing a few "truths" of our own, the things we're taught fall away or begin to be seen from different angles. We develop our own truths, our own ideas, and our own sets of moral and spiritual values. That is, if we're lucky. Some of you still cling to the old truths, and some of you make up new shit, just because it's difficult to wrap your tiny little minds around what's real. They say there are two truths: you're born and you'll die. And whether we end up as food for worms or our spirits rise to heavenly heights or fall into the abyss, we're going to end up rotting husks. What makes you who and what you are is what you do with the time in between. And ultimately, what you do and who you are depends greatly upon your level of gullibility.

The example that sticks out in my mind is Bill Clinton (wow, I'm really topical today!). He got on camera and looked America in the eye when he told them he "did not have sexual relations with that woman." He later told us his interpretation of the definition of "sex" was wrong, and that, indeed, a nice wet blowjob is sex. Huh. It is? Let me get my slide-rule and figure this out. Your pants are off (or at the very least unzipped) and your penis is in a woman's mouth. Now let's see... pi divided by atomic number 8 times bullshit factor... uhh, yes, that's sex. If your pleasure rod is in any way being handled by someone other than yourself (and ladies, same goes for your genitalia), it's sex. Got that? Okay, BUT... some of you didn't. According to some of you, the man was mistaken, that's all. His ideas about what sex was were just a little off. Let me ask you this: before all this went down, if you walked into your house and found your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, fiance, whatever with his/her genitalia in another person's mouth, would you be upset? Yes. Why? If it isn't sex, then why? Perhaps they're only playing "find the little man in the canoe." But you're upset, right? Of course you are! YOUR HUSBAND, WIFE, BOYFRIEND, GIRLFRIEND, FIANCE, WHATEVER HAS HIS/HER GENITALIA IN SOMEONE ELSE'S MOUTH, THAT'S WHY! Fuck, I'd be upset if my girlfriend's tongue was down another guy's throat (but not a woman's... and that's a story for another time). "It was just sex, nothing more, honey." Hmmm... is this supposed to make it okay? Yes, it's supposed to, but it greatly depends on your level of gullibility whether you allow it to be okay. It also depends on how fucking stupid you're willing to be.

This post is meant to be a cautionary tale. It seems the farther we come in our technologies and understanding of how things work, the more accepting we're willing to be of others' definitions of truths or their outright lies. We have unlimited access to knowledge via this handy-dandy little thing we call the world wide web, but we still have to be careful of what we believe. Wikipedia is not all truth, kids. Definitely NOT the place to research that final essay. Always remember that old truth (and yes, this IS a truth): If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably not true. Or, as Judith Sheindlin puts it, if it doesn't make sense, it can't be true. (There's goes my credibility... I just quoted Judge Judy! I'm kidding, she's a very intelligent woman!) Ask questions, look at things from all angles before you make up your mind. And trust your gut. Ultimately, the only person you can trust in this world is you.

Trust me.