The Truth About Public Lies

Jeannette Rankin of MT Speaking to the National Women’s Party, 1917. LOC

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don’t tell the truth uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof 

Truth always involves a series of steps: it never rests on a single thing. Likewise, lies are a perilous path to conditions usually worse than those distorted at the beginning. Both truth and lies have long ties to culture and society; they are social constructions. Truth can be without meaning and lies can have powerful purpose. It all depends how each resonates.

Last week, in a NYT comment I left a blank line at the end of a statement about Obama. I wrote”, “We all know he’s _____ . (Wink. You know.)” That blank was to point to cultural resonance.

This resonance is often tied to lies. For one, lies are justified as means to protect us from harm. This justification is used political lies credible.

And because a lie is not tied to truth, it has greater utility.

In the case of the “harmless” lie, the ends justifies the means. Its information wrong, it’s a lie told with good intent.

A political lie must also have an immediate appeal. In that blank space about Obama, what do you suppose I meant? Suppose I said “white.” No?

Shock value and wit are important elements of a successful public lie: the means to capture public attention.

A well crafted public lie has staying power. It becomes a cultural or social norm. George Washington’s cherry tree, the slave myth of Lincoln appearing at plantations after the war, Obama’s birth certificate or Muslim affiliation became accepted as facts, even when untrue. All involve lies easy to believe. In Obama’s case, the examples substitute for race and justify reasons to label him as “other.” The Obama examples have all four of the requirements for a successful public lie: utility, appeal, shock, craft, social support. Once an idea is fixed in our heads or hearts, in the struggle for power, lies often trump truth.