We the voters are regularly left to decide who is and who is not
telling the truth. Or who is telling more or less of it. In the past few
years the most perplexing aspect of political lying has been its
frequency, blatancy and its audaciousness. Or its unmitigated shameless
effrontery of truth as we understand it.
In the last US election Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan took
lying to an unprecedented level. Fact finders alerted the public to 2019
lies by Romney alone. I watched the first Presidential debate and
became fascinated with how Romney could present fiction as fact. It is
my contention that President Obama lost the first debate not because he
was of his game, or that he was under-prepared, but rather he was taken
by surprise by the willful lies that Romney was telling.
It is also my contention that the conservatives in our country, led
by Tony Abbott have imported this lying strategy, or political
technique, of far right conservatism into the discourse of Australian
politics. More on that later.
So what is a lie?
We know that a lie has three essential ingredients; it communicates
some information. The liar intends to deceive or mislead. The liar
believes that what they are ‘saying’ is not true. And we call people who
use these three principles blatant liars.
“When it comes to controlling human beings there is no
better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs.
And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the
only thing that counts”.
― Michael Ende. The Never-ending Story
“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed”.
Joseph Goebbels said it. Adolf Hitler re phrased it.
“When you tell a lie you deny the other person’s right to the truth”.
John Lord
On a more personal level there are what we call white lies where we
deliberately colour what we say in shades of hue to protect the feelings
of others or ourselves, or to avoid argument.
“Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is”.
Barbara Bush
“Telling the truth should not be delayed simply because we are not sure how people might react to it”.
John Lord
Consider the case where telling a lie would mean that 10 other lies
would not be told. If 10 lies are worse than 1 lie then it would seem to
be a good thing to tell the first lie, but if lying is always wrong
then it’s wrong to tell the first lie…
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive”.
― Walter Scott, Marmion
Lying is probably one of the most common wrong acts that we carry out
(one researcher has said ‘lying is an unavoidable part of human
nature’), so it’s worth spending time thinking about it.
Why is lying wrong?
There are many reasons why people think lying is wrong; which ones
resonate best with you will depend on the way you think about ethics.
Lying is bad because a generally truthful world is a good thing:
lying diminishes trust between human beings. If people generally didn’t
tell the truth, life would become very difficult, as nobody could be
trusted and nothing you heard or read could be trusted – you would have
to find everything out for yourself and an untrusting world is also bad
for liars – lying isn’t much use if everyone is doing it.
Prime ministerial lying
Everyone knows that our Prime Minister is a liar. He might even be
the worst amongst the world leaders. He is certainly the worst this
nation has ever seen. Manny of our most respected journalists and media
commentators have said so. He has even admitted he is a liar himself.
The evidence is so abundant, so overwhelmingly copious that it is beyond
contradiction. It is fair to say that in general the populace accepts
his lying as a fact. I and many others have listed them, quoted them,
itemised, analysed them and exposed them in crystal clarity. Even
members of his own party have accepted that he is a liar of nefarious
intent. And his sheer indifference to the fact that he lies together
with his lack of conscience about it I find sickening. The list is as
long as a toilet roll. Only people like Jones and Bolt seek to convince
people otherwise.
In Parliament, particularly in question time it is considered (even
when protected by Parliamentary Privilege) poor form to call a member a
liar. Outside the house one could expect a defamation order. Now in the
house the speaker doesn’t even warn the leader of the opposition when he
calls the PM a liar. Everyone just accepts that he is.
Our Prime Minister the liar. It doesn’t fall easily from my tongue.
I’m a proud Australian, true blue as the line goes and I don’t like it
when I watch the telly and the cringe factor hits me when I know that he
knows that he is telling lies without any compunction to conscience.
And at the same time spruiking his Christian values. No other leader of
this nation has less right to moralise us about virtue, be it Christian
or otherwise.
But why is it so. Why does he have to lie with such monotonous
regularity and mischievous intent? I have no training in psychology so I
can only hazard a guess based on my knowledge of human nature. Anyway I
will just throw some thoughts up in the air and see where they fall.
Firstly the compulsion to lie is genetically acquired from his
parents. Secondly the close links of the LNP to the ratbaggery Tea Party
politics of American conservatism has convinced him that lying is
effective and it works if used consistently as a societal dumbing down
tool. As a means of propaganda. Thirdly, it just comes naturally to him.
Fourthly people of his faith have convinced him that lying for the
greater good is not sinful. There might be some self-loathing involved
but he is ready to accept it. Fifthly it is a habit acquired early in
life to get his way and now as with most habits he accepts it as normal.
Lastly he believes that he alone knows what is best for you and me and
our country and is willing to lie to prove it.
Truth in politics matters. It is not a trivial matter in a democracy.
Our whole system is based on the assumption that truth prevails over
all else and that it is the people who judge its veracity. Without truth
the people cannot give informed accent to office and democracy fails.
There are ethical obligations of integrity and coherence upon which
society depends. Our Prime Minister has failed the highest standards of
political morality.
At this time in our history we are experiencing a toxic tide of
political mistrust. No other politician has contributed to it more than
Tony Abbott. Is he the most dishonest, the most cynical and
pathologically perverted liar to ever lead our nation? I will leave you
to ponder the question:
“Do you shape the truth for the sake of good impression?
On the other hand, do you tell the truth even if it may tear down the
view people may have of you? Alternatively, do you simply use the
contrivance of omission and create another lie .I can only conclude that
there might often be pain in truth but there is no harm in it”.
John Lord.
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