>Ah, the story of little Georgie and the cherry tree. "I cannot tell a lie." And for that noble admission, what does he receive? Praise. Admiration. The eternal label of moral exemplar. For confessing to an act of vandalism. There are no consequences, no making of amends. Just a pat on the head for having the good sense to perform remorse.
>Do you think he would’ve confessed if there’d been real consequences? Do you think this tale gets told if he was whipped or disinherited? No. Tell the truth when it’s safe to do so, and people will call you noble for it.
>It’s propaganda, Zorba. Nation-building through bedtime stories. Teaching children that virtue is inherent, that character is forged not through struggle but through innate moral superiority, apparently coded into the bones of Founding Fathers.
>It would be far more honest if the story ended with George hiding the axe, blaming a servant, and then spending the rest of his life trying to justify it with constitutional loopholes. That would be a far more American myth, wouldn’t it?