Chapter 70 on honesty

on honesty Former U.S. Secretary of State Bernas wrote a book titled "Honestly Honest" after he retired.This book has more than one translation name in China, or as "Secret Records of US-Soviet Diplomacy", or "Inside Story of US-Soviet Diplomacy", or "Records of US-Soviet Diplomacy", "Secret Record", "Inside Story" and "Record". Both are free translations of "honestly".The author attended a banquet not long ago, and everyone talked about Bernas's book and the title of the book.An American guest said with a smile, "Bernes is the worst at telling the truth!" Everyone laughed too.Whether or not this book by Bernas is all about "honesty" is irrelevant for the time being. His own title is "honesty", and the various Chinese translations all contain the meaning of "honesty". They are all asking for "honesty".Bernas wrote such a title himself, presumably to indicate that he had a lot of inconveniences when he was the Secretary of State and handled diplomacy. Now that he is free and has no official position, he might as well "speak the truth"——The original name The literal translation should be "Honestly Speaking", not "Honestly Speaking".But is he really free to "speak the truth" now, is he really willing to "speak the truth" like that? ——The American guest has his reasons for what he said.

Regardless of China and foreign countries, and regardless of ancient and modern times, everyone demands "honesty". It can be seen that "honesty" is not easy to hear and see.Everyone requires truth in knowledge, they need to know the facts and seek the truth.But for abstract truth, if you break through the sandbox and ask to the end, some say it can be known, some say it cannot be known.Moreover, according to common sense, there is always reason before the event, and in daily life, all we have to deal with are things, and reason is included in it. When dealing with things, reason is often unconscious.Emphasis thus falls to fact.I often hear people say, "We need to understand the truth of the facts." They say both "facts" and "truths".Telling the truth of the facts is the "truth".People who buy and sell things say "the real price" and ask the criminal to "recruit from the truth" by asking for a confession, all of which demand the "truth."This is the case with people, and it is the same with countries.Some current affairs commentators often say that if the two powers of the United States and the Soviet Union are willing to tell the truth about what the two countries want, and then discuss it, the world situation may become clearer.However, some commentators think that the words of the two powers, especially those of the Soviet Union, are honest enough and clear enough.Indeed, since Vyshinsky named "warmongers" at the UN General Assembly last year, the words of the two powers of the United States and the Soviet Union have become more and more honest, but it seems that the clarity has not yet been seen.

Why can't people refuse to tell the truth?In the final analysis, the key lies in the conflict of interests.Tell the truth by yourself, let others know your own truth, and it is easy to control yourself.Even if it is not the case, letting others know the details is easy to get ahead of yourself.In this unfairly distributed world, life is like a war, often with you but not me; so everyone has to hide a little bit of himself, which is baffling.Ever since intrigue, hide-and-seek, everyone is suspicious in anxiety.There has always been an old saying, "Know people, know their faces, but not their hearts", and "Only talk about one-third of people. You can't let go of your heart." This kind of motto in life is to teach people not to tell the truth, less to tell the truth, and It is to suggest that conflict of interests.I have no people, I have many people and few, I am strong and weak. To be honest, I am afraid that people will take advantage of me.I have no one, I have few people and many people, I am weak and strong, and to tell the truth, I am afraid that people will bully me to no avail; the weak want to become strong, the few want to become more, and the few want to become powerful.This is the case with people, so why is it not the case with countries!

When it comes to war, there is an honest saying, "Soldiers never tire of cheating"!"Never tire of deceit" in real war, intrigue, hide-and-seek, and tricks are exactly "never tire of deceit"! "Never tire of cheating" means that the more cheating the better, never telling the truth or telling the truth is a big step forward; thus blurring the facts, exaggerating the facts, distorting the facts, and even fabricating the facts!So all kinds of lies are available, you think I am a liar, I think you are a liar.In this situation, China and foreign countries are similar in ancient and modern times, because the distribution is always unfair, and the interests are always in conflict.This may also require more honesty, honesty.To be honest, there are naturally some. If people do not have a certain amount of mutual trust, society will not be a society.But there are always too few truths and too many lies, and the harmony of society may still be far away.However, although there are many lies, there are few lies that are entirely fabricated, because it is not easy to convince people.The trouble is that the lie is mixed with the truth, and the truth is mixed with the lie-the cleverness is also here.Daily speech is more or less two-part, and people's mutual trust is built on this two-part speech, and people's suspicion can also arise from the two-part speech.Even as Bernas advertised himself as "honest", his guest from the same country suspected that he was using a good name to deceive people.Who among us ordinary people can know how honest or dishonest his words are?

People are emotionally demanding sincerity, sincerity, openness or sincerity.They want to listen to the "truth", "truth", what comes from the heart, not what is spoken, which can also be called "honest".However, it is always rare to have "what you say when you say it", and "duplicate what you say when you say what you mean" I am afraid that everyone sometimes can't help it. After reading O'Neill's "A Strange Interlude", you can suddenly understand it. "Honey with a mouth and a sword with a belly" has really become a villain.Truth is not necessarily about facts, the main thing is attitude.However, as quoted earlier, "Knowing people, knowing faces, not knowing the heart", if you don't look at anyone and just take out your own heart, people may still think it's bloody!That's why you can't talk about the depth of friendship. When you meet, you only talk about the weather. This is the reason.The so-called "heart-to-heart talk", the so-called "heart-to-heart talk", must be done by two or three confidants; if it is a casual acquaintance, it can only be perfunctory, polite, and say some irrelevant facades.This is not necessarily false, hypocritical.At least he has you in his eyes.Some people are cold when they meet each other, their faces are long, and they love others and ignore others, which can be regarded as "true" at the top, but how many people can stand the "truth" that is too hot!Originally, they didn't know each other, or didn't know each other very well, and there was no way to talk about the relevant words, but it was easy to go wrong if they said it, and they were far away, lightly, and slowly, but they just knew each other deeply, like a husband and wife. Sometimes, it may not be possible to tell the truth everywhere. "People's hearts are different, each is like its face", a person always has some secrets that he doesn't want to teach others, if he doesn't care about some of them, no matter how dear he is, he will hit a wall.The difficulty of telling the truth lies here.

Although the truth is not necessarily about the facts, but the lie must not be the truth.A lie is not necessarily a lie. Some sweet words or polite words are said too much, and we think they are lies. In fact, the person who speaks may not lack love and respect.Intentionally deceiving people has no other purpose, so the so-called "smart words and swords" are naturally regarded as another matter.The truth is also a serious word, and jokes cannot be regarded as the truth.Takes jokes as the truth and often gets into trouble, even among acquaintances or even relatives.So a sense of humor is valuable.The truth is not necessarily pleasant words. The so-called "bitter words", "medical and stone words", "faithful words" and "blunt words" are often harsh, and good intentions often offend people.But people also demand that "blunt speaking" in the autocratic era is a subject for selecting talents. Even fortune tellers and fortune tellers are still advertised as "iron mouth", which means straight speaking, telling the truth, and being honest.But this kind of "straight talk" and "straight talk" are probably not harsh, at least not too harsh.It is "blunt" and not too harsh, isn't it the best of both worlds!However, piercing ears may be tolerable, but piercing the heart is the hardest to forgive; if you speak out, you will be resented, and you will be jealous, just to pierce the hearts of others--the small one is called a "stinky mouth", and the big one can kill one's life.Therefore, there are very few ministers who are outright "outspoken and extremely admonishing".Speaking bluntly, and then piercingly, is almost tantamount to scolding each other, which will naturally make people angry, and even turn their faces.On the other hand, when you get angry or turn your face, you start to scold someone and blurt out, so naturally you speak more bluntly, truthfully, honestly.

This is the case with people, but it is different from country to country.Although there is also friendship between countries, it is not comparable to the friendship between people, and the friendship between people is almost non-existent.There is no love, no "sincerity", and no "truth" or "truth".There is no shortage of polite words, the so-called diplomatic rhetoric; they are just reciprocating courtesy and showing mutual respect.Also, the language of the treaty is based on interests, some are reciprocal, more are partial, and naturally the weak suffer.This kind of treaty is "truth", so sometimes there must be secret clauses, and sometimes it is completely secret.A treaty is always said to be by mutual consent, even if only one party "graciously assents".To speak frankly to one party, or to each other, without their consent, is often condemnation, which is tantamount to scolding.This is the case with the United States and the Soviet Union after the United Nations General Assembly last year.The more honest the words are, the sharper they will be. Of course, it's not enough to turn your face.This kind of honesty is also propaganda on the one hand.According to the general opinion, propaganda can never be honest.However, the two powers of the United States and the Soviet Union condemned each other. There are indeed many truths among them, and there are indeed many people who believe in one side or the other. Therefore, the confrontation between the two camps has become more and more clear, and the world has become more and more turbulent.This shows the power of propaganda.There are also various kinds of publicity.Needless to say, no one believes the empty propaganda without facts, but there are some people who believe it if there are facts but there are some lies.Because there is confidence in the facts, and confidence can tell more or less the truth, so it teaches people to believe.Naturally, the more facts there are and the clearer they are, the more people will believe them.But where there is propaganda, there is also counter-propaganda, and counter-propaganda is meant to dispel propaganda.Judgments must of course be based on facts.However, the pros and cons are so intricate that ordinary people are dazzled and troubled, so they simply wiped it out with one sentence, saying that all propaganda is a lie!But propaganda is indeed a lie, and propaganda will no longer exist, so it should be considered separately.Even if Bernas titled his book "To Be Honest", or "To Be Honest", the American guest suspected that he was promoting himself; but the book couldn't be all lies?Nor can a man live entirely by lying, because then he falls into nothingness and is gone.

Made on February 24, 1948. (Originally published in "Zhou Lun", Volume 1, Issue 8, March 5, 1948)