Lie To Me Once…. Lie To Me Twice….
An old saying goes: “Lie to me once, shame on you. Lie to me twice, shame on me.”
I don’t know whether to be amused or frightened by the fact that so many of my fellow citizens seem to be surprised when one of our leaders who has lied to us in the past is again caught in a lie.
Forgive me, but after you have lied to me once, I figure that if I see your lips moving, you are lying. That is, until you come to me with verifiable facts that you have changed your ways.
Having said that, I can understand why we have become sort of numb to lies in general. We are bombarded daily with outright lies and, just as dangerous, half truths, which are still lies, dressed in sheep’s clothing.
Whether its selling a box of soap, running for Congress or delivering some bad news about the latest foreign diplomatic failure, its all about the message. Give the people what you think they want to hear in order to make the sale. The “sheeple” don’t really want to hear the truth. They would rather concentrate on social media and the latest staged “Reality” show.
Advertisers call it “Marketing” and Politicians have fine tuned it into what is called “Spin” and “Talking Points”. Like putting lipstick on a lie. Tell a lie often enough and with fake conviction and it soon becomes a quasi-truth.
It has become an art form. Couch everything you say in “weasel” words and propaganda.
For marketing companies you end up with words like “Beefy” (no beef) and “Choclaty” (no chocolate). Car dealers use phrases like: “We can make you a deal like nobody else, and that’s a promise!” (of what?).
Politicians give you phrases like: “If you like your plan you can keep it and that’s a promise!” (for how long?) or: “I did not have sex with that woman!” (depends on your definition of sex).
Still there was a time when people of character and honor told us the truth, no matter how ugly.
In 1940 during the dark early days of World War II, Winston Churchill promised his people only: “Blood, toil, tears and sweat”. It wasn’t a pretty message but it was the truth and the British people, as well as the free world, rallied to it.
In our world today a politician who tells the “no-spin” truth is a rare individual. Any individual bold enough to say plainly that as a nation we are on a path to bankruptcy and becoming a Third Rate Banana Republic, under the thumb of a dictator who governs by edict rather than the rule of law, would be called an extremist, mocked and made fun of.
If we can find a strong enough leader to tell us that to solve our domestic and economic problems will take the equivalent of “Self discipline, hard work and financial tears”, they would never get elected or, if already in office would have no chance of re-election.
Times change.
Bob Bandy
