I did a
blog post on April 10, 2012 called “We are Lyin’: Are we Dyin’?”. This is an update of that 2012
post.
In 1978,
Sissela Bok published a book, Lying:
Moral Choice in Public and Private Life. On page 19 of the Vintage paperback sitting on my desk, Ms.
Bok invites us to:
“Imagine a society, no matter how
ideal in other respects, where word and gesture could never be counted upon.”
I do
believe that, in politics at least, we are there. In 2016, politicians have
become brazen about lying—saying things they know are lies, knowing that people
will know that they are lies, and knowing that people won’t care because they
expect to be lied to. So as long as the lies reflect what people want to
believe, the lying politician will win votes. It is happening today. When
caught in a lie, they lie about having lied, win more votes, and are praised
for “telling it like it is”.
In fact, in
2016 not a small number of people are asking
politicians to lie to us. The larger the lie, the more we support them. Evidence, the 2016 GOP primaries.
We have actually
codified the legitimacy of lying. Evidence:
(1) As a result of U.S. vs. Alvarez,
I may lie with impunity about my war record (sic); (2) This week, an Ohio law
that prohibited false statements about a candidate for office bit the dust. The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit stuck it down, using the
Supreme Court’s money-is-free-speech decision to support their decision.
And we just elected a man whose lies are documented, blatant, and loved by his followers. He in turn has chosen an expert in propaganda as his chief advisor.
Lies are now legally considered a part of self-expression, politicians who lie to us cannot be held legally accountable for those lies, and we the people beg them to tell us bigger and more bodacious lies.
Lies are now legally considered a part of self-expression, politicians who lie to us cannot be held legally accountable for those lies, and we the people beg them to tell us bigger and more bodacious lies.
Bok says,
again on page 19, “Deceit and violence—these are the two forms of deliberate
assault on human beings,” and “society could scarcely function without some
degree of truthfulness in speech and action.”
And I again wonder if
anyone is grieving for our loss.
