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BBHQ Boomer Essays: |
| Our Boomer-In-Charge here at BBHQ, Hershel Chicowitz, writes frequently about current events... from a boomer perspective. He is sometimes funny, sometimes provocative, sometimes a little of each. We hope you get a kick out of our Boomer Essays. |
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March, 2010: "It's a Lie!" "You're lying!" "No, you're lying!" "It's all a bunch of lies!" Yep; it seems to be an epidemic. Everyone's accusing the other guy of lying. They do it directly. Or they are more nuanced, as Democratic New York Times columnist and former Enron adviser Paul Krugman put it on Sunday's "This Week":
I'll get into the specifics of that in a moment. But for me, this was the kicker. I'm fed up with politicians and pundits and columnists making bogus or unsubstantiated claims about people lying. Let's put down a marker here, and set the record straight. In my view, lying is the most pernicious of all personal failings. If you lie, you cannot be trusted. And if you cannot be trusted, what value are you to your spouse, to your friends, to your colleagues, to your country? Your reputation is your most personal attribute, and in the long run, perhaps your most important. You may ruin it forever by lying. But nearly as bad is falsely accusing someone of lying. You falsely cause an injury that may never go away. It is grossly unfair to the one you falsely accuse; and it is misleading to everyone else. So, this week, let's take a close look at what is a is lie and what is not, and who is to blame.
 What's a Lie? Let's start out by clearly defining what a lie is:
These days, the trend, especially among liberal Democrats, is that anything that someone (particularly a Republican) says that makes them feel bad is a lie. I know it feels better to believe that the person who says something that makes you feel bad is lying. (That way you can discard whatever it is that they said.) But that does not make it so. It has to be a falsehood; not a feelbad. I know; I know... George Bush lied. He lied about weapons of mass destruction; he lied about the Iraq war; he lied about Dick Cheney; he lied about everything. Halliburton, Halliburton, Halliburton!!! His whole administration was nothing but one big, fat lie. There; ya' feel better now? For the better part of eight years, we had an essay at BBHQ offering $5,000 to anyone who could document a lie told by George Bush. Hundreds of visitors to BBHQ spewed their venom and shouted at the top of their lungs. Maybe it made them feel better. But no one documented a lie that George Bush told. No one. (Stop; it's over. You had eight years. Don't waste my time now.)
The Great Loophole of Politics Most often, when we think of lies, we think of politicians. (No great coincidence there.) But, at least, in campaign mode, they have a marvelous "get out of jail free" card. They can promise anything. Once in office, they can ignore or fail on their promises. That does not make them liars. It might make them phonies and charlatans, but not liars. They keep doing it because we keep buying it. That makes their deceit nearly as much our fault as theirs. But that's another story for another day.
That was a shallow campaign promise, one that President Obama has willfully violated on a regular basis. But at the time he said it, it was a statement about the future; and thus, not a lie.
Is that a lie? I donno. Maybe they did estimate that. The claim was of an estimate that they had supposedly made. The test is not whether it was a foolish or false estimate -- which, of course, it was, but rather had they indeed made that estimate. I suppose so. No confirmable lie there.
Again, it was a statement about the future -- a bold and ridiculous statement. I doubt seriously if even they believed it was possible. But it was a statement about the future, not a lie.
In January, 2009, President Obama signed a document requiring the closing of the Gitmo detention center within a year. Didn't happen. Does that make him a liar? No. It shows that he did not understand the limits of presidential power or how to use it. A foolish, rookie mistake, but not a lie.
Is that a lie? No; it was a statement about the future; a promise. Perhaps a foolish promise to make; certainly a foolish one to break. But it was not a lie.
You can Run, but You Can't Hide
Ah, no. The president was a lawyer; he knew what had happened. Guilty. He lied. In fact, he was quite a habitual liar. As is our next guest:
No; no; no; no; and no. Oh, please... We could go on... and on... and on; we have hours of testimony before a grand jury here -- not to mention numerous statements made publicly. But...
Though, politicians are not the only ones who lie. The media lies constantly. But they are usually more subtle. More often, they exaggerate, or they deceive, or they leave out important details. Let's take the statement by columnist Paul Krugman that led off this essay:
Oh, he did not use the word "lie." That would be impolite. (And oh, we do not want to be impolite when we call them liars.) But he nonetheless accused Republicans of lying. Note that he did not identify any specific Republican; he just lumped them all together. That's careless and cowardly. Now let's look at what he claimed is not true. According to Krugman, insurance premiums are not going to go up. Suddenly, the former adviser to Enron is a prophet! He knows the future. How does he know that? Oh, I know; he is an economist. So, Krugman accuses Republicans of lying, while he can predict the future. That's just pathetic, folks.
Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller is a bit more nuanced about it when talking about his president:
So Prsident Obama is not lying; he is just... not believable. (Somehow that's not quite as bad.) And he's not actually there yet; he is just beginning to get there.
Last year, one of our regular liberal visitors lauded President Obama for his plans to close Gitmo. I reminded her of that last month, when Gitmo was still open, with no closing date in sight. She responded that he wanted to close it; he intended to close it. And I replied, "Oh, so now we are judging his accomplishments by his intentions? 'He meant well.' That's what matters? Call the Nobel prize committee; sign him up for a repeat." She responded by asking me if I thought that Obama was lying. No, of course not. Looking at it from her perspective, no; what he said did not make me feel bad. He simply did not understand what he was doing. But he was not lying. It's an important difference. He was an amateur, waving his newly acquired saber in the air. But he was not lying... not on that issue.
Conclusion Don't call something a lie just because you do not like the sound of it. Don't devalue the word. If your only response to something that makes you feel bad is to claim it is a lie, you need to re-assess your value system. You can say that all politicians lie, especially when running for office. I would strongly disagree. (Zell Miller, Sam Nunn, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Harry Truman, George Washington, Abe Lincoln... just for starters.) But regardless, that does not make it acceptable. If they lie when running for office, they will likely lie while serving in office. Politicians, columnists, business executives, teachers, parents... when they lie, they disgrace their profession; they disgrace themselves; and they disqualify themselves from holding your respect. And certainly, they do not then deserve to set the rules that dictate how and what we, as free Americans, may do. They will stop lying only when we are vigilant; when we watch and listen to them closely; when we hold them to their word, and reject them when they lie. Reject them. All of them. That is your responsibility.
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If you like what we're doing here at BBHQ, please help us by buying stuff through our link to Amazon.com:
| The BBHQ Feature Album is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert in 2003, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Feature Book is
"The 5000 Year Leap," by
W. Cleon Skousen. The title does not
adequately identify the content, though the concept of the 5,000 year
leap is astounding. The subtitle, Principles of Freedom 101, is
much more applicable to the subject. This book carefully and clearly
summarizes the thinking of the brilliant founding fathers of our country,
the ideas behind the "miracle that changed the world."
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