Monday, April 26, 2021

V for Veritaserum

 Imagine a tonic, drinking which you are forced to speak out the truth and only the truth and nothing but the truth ! Forget about all the holy books upon which one has to swear in some courts of the world ! Such a tonic exists in the Harry Potter world and it is called Veritaserum.

Usually the term coined by Rowling has some roots that add a lot of sense to the explanation.  Veritas is supposed to be the Roman goddess of truth.

It is kind of the lie detector or the truth forcer of the wizarding world. 

I am reminded of Jim Carrey s Liar Liar movie. He also has a kind of truth spell affecting him. I recall a scene where he holds a red pen aloft and tries to declare " this pen is blue"  but his mouth fails to cooperate and declares the truth! 

Honesty is a virtue or character trait that is instilled from a very young age. But hush-hush circumstances and scenarios are universal, I believe.

Imagine if we all were like Pinocchio. For every simple lie we utter ( oh yes we all do I am sure) our noses would react. It would have been impossible to wear masks, I reckon ! 

My dad was manager of a company and his work was predominantly in sales and he was pretty passionate about his work. Every time a salesman selling a vacuum cleaner or a hand blender would ring our bell for door to door sales he would give them coffee and some paternal advise . He would say " in this profession you must first learn to lie a bit. "

There is a Tamil movie song called Azhagu. It means beautiful. A little girl sings that falling leaves are as beautiful as the flowers and the scorching sun is as beautiful as the rain .

In the long there are lines 

Punnagai Veesidum paarvaigal Azhagu

Parvaigal theerndhadhum mounangal azhagu

Nanmaikku sollidum poygalum azhagu


Beautiful are the looks that smile

Beautiful are the silences that follow these looks

Beautiful are the lies told for the good (reasons)



14 comments:

  1. In some circumstances, a little lie is the best thing to do! That's my excuse. I was in sales training for many years and I always believed in 'adjusting' the truth according to the situation! Verum veritas.

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    1. Yes that's knowing how to exist in a world that always does not go strictly by the rules

      https://pagesfromjayashree.blogspot.com/2021/04/w-for-wand.html

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  2. Beautiful are the lies told for the good... that is something I think we all do and if it is to protect someone could really be all that bad?
    Cheers,

    Crackerberries

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  3. In my experience, sufficient alcohol -- at least for adults -- has a way of eliciting the truth without resorting to secret potions :-) https://mollyscanopy.com/2021/04/various-other-teen-interests-from-rod-serling-to-rfk/#comments

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  4. Veritas is Latin, vérité in French, so close. I can easily imagine Pinocchio wearing a mask ;))

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    1. I have no clue about French pronunciation but would like to learn one day

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  5. The Pinocchio effect would have indeed wreaked havoc on the need for wearing masks; but fewer people would be lying about the reason they are unable to wear one. And, of course, renaming "innocent fibs" as white lies gives the teller much latitude about the degree of the lie. Good thing veritaserum only works at Hogwarts.
    https://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com

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    1. Oh yes they cannot lie about why they dont have a mask ! I never thought of that

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  6. I would not want to take Veritaserum. I do believe in telling the truth however I also agree that we all tell white lies from time to time. Those are best left alone. Weekends In Maine

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    1. I would not want to take anything that takes control over me.Agreed

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  7. Lying is fascinating. I work with children and have two of my own. My son is like me, he is not so good at lying. My daughter seems to be rather fluent in it!

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  8. As I recall, veritaserum is only used by the bad guys. Snape can make it, but he lies to Umbridge about why she can’t have any.

    Sometimes a lie IS the best way to go, to avoid hurting the other person. Plus the entire advertising industry and diplomacy would be wiped out if noses lengthened with lies!

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