Poosey Digest: What is lying?

Greetings from the Poosey.

No doubt about it, I was born too early. I remember the day in my first grade classroom when Mrs. Walker put her hand on my shoulder and I jumped. She was reciting our spelling test giving each of our 10 weekly words aloud when she came up behind me and said, “What’s that?” I responded with the standard answer from any first-grader, “What?” She said, “That paper between your legs.” My five-year-old scheming mind had come up with a way to get a perfect score on my test by writing the list of words on a small piece of paper and then conveniently tucking it between my thighs. Heck, I could out-smart any schoolteacher. Wrong.

She reached down and snatched the list, looked at me through the tops of her bifocals and said, “Is this the first time you’ve done this?” I was caught. The only way out of this situation was a bald-faced lie so I said, “Yes, Mrs. Walker. It’s the first time. I promise.” Somewhere in the recesses of her heart of compassion or perhaps pity she sighed and said, “Don’t do it again.” I promised that I wouldn’t and I didn’t. For the life of me, I don’t remember cheating another time in my entire school career, but of course my memory is fuzzy. Had I only been a first-grader in 2017 I could have avoided the fib and simply “backed my statement down.”

There are no more lies in the universe. Flip on your TV set or check the news feed of your cell phone and you’ll see that no one ever lies. We “misspeak,” and if we’re caught we don’t admit it, we simply “back down” our previous statements. Even the editor of the distinguished Wall Street Journal advised his writers to avoid the word “lie,” when describing words of politicians. But it’s okay to say that their statements are false. Oh. Yeah, I got that.

The new phrase, “post truth,” coined just a few years ago, refers to a culture where the truth of a matter is defined not by the facts, but by appeals to emotion, usually emotion tied to the prejudices of the intended audience. It’s the old “tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.” Before the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union the proponents greatly exaggerated the cost of the country’s membership. The BBC news found this to be a lie, England’s top news channel found it to be a lie, and Full Fact, the most trust fact checking organization said that the figure was wrong. But the publicists kept repeating the lie until in most voters’ minds it became a fact.

Search the news all you like and you’ll find absolutely no lies. It’s now “misinformation.” People don’t lie, they “misspeak.” You don’t admit to telling a lie, you simply “talk back the point.” You don’t have to prove a point, just simply say, “A lot of people are saying.” Heck, we’re people so that must be us, and it must be true because we don’t lie. And ‘round and ‘round the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel.

“Mrs. Crump, you’re two months behind on your power bill.”

“No. No, that’s impossible.”

“When I called last week you said that your check was in the mail.”

“I misspoke.”

“You what?”

“Misspoke. I want to talk that point back.”

“What are you talking about? Mrs. Crump, we want to believe all of our customers, but when they… ”

“I’m not lying, really. That bit about mailing the check? It wasn’t a lie. It was a post truth.”

“What’s that?

“I know lots of people who said I paid my bill, so I’m sure I did.”

The philosopher Machiavelli said, “Those princes who do great things have considered keeping their word of little account, and have known how to beguile men’s minds by shrewdness and cunning.” I wonder if the Italian philosopher had Mrs. Walker for a teacher. I’ll bet he did. Yes, I’m sure he did. I mean, I can’t prove it, but if I say it enough times. . .

You ever in ’round Poosey, stop by. We may not answer the door but you’ll enjoy the trip.