Making a lie sound true
"...proceeded on the sound principle that the magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility, since the great masses of the people in the very bottom of their hearts tend to be corrupted rather than consciously and purposely evil, and that, therefore, in view of the primitive simplicity of their minds, they more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big. Such a falsehood will never enter their heads, and they will not be able to believe in the possibility of such monstrous effrontery and infamous misrepresentation in others.…" --Adolf Hitler
Lying has become the dominant form of information in politics, and untruth has become the distinctive mark of political propaganda. Lying includes the massive historical revisionism which has taken place over the last decade, the falsification of government documents, the false claims which are used to justify the invasion and slaughter of innocent people who have large oil reserves, and so on. A single example from the United States' 52nd state (Canada), may serve as illustration:
| What the then Prime Minister said: | What actually happened: |
| “Politicians should keep their promises”. In his ‘Red Book’ the Prime Minister outlined a series of actions which he promised to keep. | When confronted about breaking his promises, the Prime Minister stated: “Screw the Red Book… Don’t tell me what’s in the Red Book. I wrote the goddamned thing. And I know that it’s a lot of crap.” |
| Promised to eliminate the the hated ‘GST’ tax | The GST tax was kept and made permanent |
| Promised to “Preserve and protect universal medicare” | Transfer payments to provinces was reduced by 40%, creating the worst crisis of health care funding in Canadian history, almost destroying Medicare. |
| Promised to renegotiate or cancel the destructive North American Free Trade agreement | The North American Free Trade agreement was strengthened and parts massivley expanded via the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership) |
| Promised to eliminate child poverty in Canada | Funding changes by his government helped create the largest homeless population in Canadian history, making many children homeless. Changes in tax laws created the highest child poverty rate in Canadian history. |
| Promised that “Health care, not tax cuts are our first priority" | All budget surpluses from the 40% cut in transfer payments were redirected into tax cuts, most of which which went to the rich. The number of Canadian multi-millionaires was at the highest in history, while simultaneously the number of those citizens earning below the poverty line was at the highest. The number of those below the poverty line rose by over 60%. |
| Promised that the military would only participate in UN Peace keeping missions | The mandate of the military was changed away from peace missions and into active participation in US-led wars |
| Promised to ensure that Canada would always be an independent nation | The SPP (Security and Prosparity Partnership) was signed by this Prime Minister. This 'harmonized' Canadian military, police, customs, arts, water rights, oil rights, mineral rights, corporate law, trade, foreign affairs, and many other formerly independent items with United States laws. |
Of course there are countless other examples, from virtually every country in the world. It is a sad truism that lying and falsification has become normative for many of those in power. The profound consequences for the social narrative as well as for basic human rights, are obvious.
There are many methods encorporated into method of political lying and falsification. But there is one which while not unique to our own time, is perhaps uniquely pervasive. This is the technique of acculturation to the credo that truth is relative.
So for example when science and simple intelligence indicate that dinasaurs did not cavort with humans 6000 years ago, the relativization of truth says that well, this 'theory' is on an equal footing with scientific evolution which is also a theory. That is to say, truth is a relative thing, depending upon one's viewpoint. Or take another example, where some politician on behalf of his oil-company owners states that there is nothing to worry about concerning climate change. He simply disagrees with those who say humanity is on the brink of disaster. Why? Because his belief is just one of many equaly valid ones in this area - truth is relative.
But truth is not relative.
Scientific truth can be objectively tested. The veracity of political statements can be objectively tested. Yet legions of those who have inhabited the halls of martial power from earliest times, would have their subjects believe otherwise. They use revisionism, propaganada, intimidation, the educational system, fiscal pressures, and much more to acculturate their subjects to a belief that lies are normative and acceptable - that their resolution and testing is malleable. That is to say, that truth is relative. That so many have come to believe this is one of the strongest indicators of social decay. And all that is good in humanity, suffers as a result.
Of course there are countless other examples, from virtually every country in the world. It is a sad truism that lying and falsification has become normative for many of those in power. The profound consequences for the social narrative as well as for basic human rights, are obvious.
There are many methods incorporated into method of political lying and falsification. But there is one which while not unique to our own time, is perhaps uniquely pervasive. This is the technique of acculturation to the credo that truth is relative.
So for example when science and simple intelligence indicate that dinosaurs did not cavort with humans 6000 years ago, the relativization of truth says that well, this 'theory' is on an equal footing with scientific evolution which is also a theory. That is to say, truth is a relative thing, depending upon one's viewpoint. Or take another example, where some politician on behalf of his oil-company owners states that there is nothing to worry about concerning climate change. He simply disagrees with those who say humanity is on the brink of disaster. Why? Because his belief is just one of many equally valid ones in this area - truth is relative.
But truth is not relative.
Scientific truth can be objectively tested. The veracity of political statements can be objectively tested. Yet legions of those who have inhabited the halls of martial power from earliest times, would have their subjects believe otherwise. They use revisionism, propaganda, intimidation, the educational system, fiscal pressures, and much more to acculturate their subjects to a belief that lies are normative and acceptable - that their resolution and testing is malleable. That is to say, that truth is relative. That so many have come to believe this is one of the strongest indicators of social decay. And all that is good in humanity, suffers as a result.
