Ignoble Truths and Noble Lies

Western political philosophy invented the concept of the “Noble Lie.” Plato, the student of the wise Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle who was a teacher of Alexander the Great, argued that the masses in his imagined perfect place—“The Republic”—should be taught this Lie. This Noble Lie says that the masses are made merely of bronze and are therefore inferior to their rulers and rule enforcers who came from the womb of the earth like them, but are constituted by the far more desirable elements of gold and silver. With this “knowledge,” the intellectually unsophisticated masses are expected to accept the pecking order in the class divided society that is Plato's Republic. There’s the lie. As to its nobility… well… The Nobles need it.

The other day, I was again reminded of the Noble Lie. Not because I had to do another lecture on it or that I watched Watchmen again with its suggestions on the need for a Noble Lie from another angle, but because news reports have come out regarding our dear Chief Executive having breast implants.

First, one of her spokepersons denied it. Another spokesperson later admitted it. In all, I count that Malacanang and the President herself delivered at least 3 lies in relation to this story. Didn’t the President claim she was in the hospital for self-quarantine, since she was concerned about possibly infecting others after her travel abroad?

Noble lies? Protecting us from the dangers that our own ignorance might bring against the State? No. More like Ignoble Truths.
One Presidentiable put it well: “Malacañang used a valid public health concern – the A(H1N1) virus – to camouflage the real reason for Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to have herself confined at Asian Hospital. And now that they have been found lying, they are trying to divert the issue by invoking her privacy.”

To my mind, people who have breast implants are, to a certain extent, psychologically troubled (or need it for their "job," say, a model). Unless you really look bizzare, i don't see the need for such invasive cosmetics. This 'President,' I submit, is simply troubled. And her spokespersons are bizzare. Note, I am not saying that people can't or shouldn't have their implants. They can have all the implants they want, for all I care. I only underscore the "psychological" thingy here. Indeed, people have the right to be wrong. Or be pierced. And even look bizarre.

But we do not need a "troubled" person for president. We do not want a habitual, pathological liar at the helm. Perhaps GMA needs a psychiatrist, not a cosmetic surgeon, to face the Ignoble Truths in her life and about herself.

Dear Malaki-ang-kanyang, even assuming that Plato was right and that his Noble Lie was truth, rulers are supposed to be made of gold. Not Silicone.