On Lying

Possible short term advantage often subsequently eclipsed by long term disaster.

I woke up this morning to the news that—after four years of printing lies—the New York Times has finally published an Opinion piece acknowledges the evidence that SARS-CoV-2 did not originate in nature, but in a lab.

It seems the editors finally realized that lying about the causative agent of COVID-19 is no longer tenable. Reading the report prompted me to reflect on the various reasons why we humans lie, and why lying is a poor strategy for a successful and happy life.

WHY DO WE LIE?

Lying is a bad habit that most of us pick up in childhood in order to get what we want, have fun, and enjoy mischief making without getting into trouble with our parents and teachers. Many of us naturally continue this habit as we enter adulthood in order to get what we want from friends, romantic partners, colleagues, and bosses when telling the full truth would bring us into conflict, compel us to sacrifice something we desire, or conceal a transgression. Lying is what we are invariably obliged to do when we want to have our cake and eat it too.

I suspect that a large percentage of society lies all the time. To be sure, lying may often enable us to avoid short term conflict or enjoy a short term gain. Avoiding discomfort and gaining a material advantage may reinforce the liar’s bad habit.

Criticism of lying often starts with the elementary observation that it violates the ancient rule to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” and is therefore an inherently shabby thing to do. We understand the shabbiness of it the second we catch someone in the act of lying to us. We often fail to appreciate this when we ourselves lie because there is such a huge gap between our immediate, first person state of consciousness, and understanding of what it’s like to be in another man or woman’s shoes. The former comes naturally; the latter requires effort and thoughtfulness.

The trouble with lying is that the truth often—though not always—comes out eventually, and the damage incurred when the truth is revealed is often vastly greater than the short term advantage gained by the lie. This is why it’s often remarked that the cover-up is worse than the crime.

In his 1513 treatise titled The Prince, the Florentine statesman and writer, Niccolo Machiavelli observed that in order to maintain and wield power effectively, a leader must be willing to commit acts of duplicity. The reason, Machiavelli observed, is that the Prince’s rivals and the people whom he governs do not appreciate the truth when it requires that they restrain their own desires for gain. Being honest often exposes the Prince to treachery and ingratitude.

I suspect that, during times of extreme division and rivalry, as Machiavelli experienced in his day, much of what the great Florentine philosopher observed is true. In framing the Constitution of the new American Republic, our Founding Fathers created a set of rules that, if followed, would restrain ambitious men from trying to rise to a position of total domination. The goal was to create a political culture that would dissuade hyper ambitious men from seeking power in the first place.

I fear that our Constitutional Republic is now breaking down, thereby returning our political conditions to a state that increasing resembles the extremely violent conditions of the Italian peninsula in Machiavelli’s day (1469 to 1527). Under such conditions, we can expect a dramatic increase of lying about everything.

At the risk of sounding flippant, it would probably be easier to return to the reasonable path of restraint and moderation if ALL the crazy, demented, and spectacularly selfish old baby boomers would retire from politics. God knows they’ve amassed enough wealth to enjoy an endlessly comfortable retirement. How salutary it would be if they would all go play golf and quit inflicting themselves on the public forum.

Postscript: After I posted this essay, some of my readers reproached me for heaping too much blame for lying on the Baby boomers in politics. For the record, I was NOT criticizing ALL Baby boomers, but was using the term to refer to crazy and demented politicians who have been in power for decades. I had in mind the corrupting tendency that occurs when people remain in power for a very long time and fall into the habit of disbursing favors to well-positioned interests instead of governing for the good of the Republic.

I was specifically thinking about Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, but as one of my readers pointed out, neither is (technically speaking) a Baby boomer (though they grew up in the same era just after World War II).

Contrast the character of these baleful seniors with the principled character of Tulsi Gabbard, who couldn't stomach being on Capitol Hill for more than 8 years.

The (very senior) generation of politicians—it seems to me—has been lying for so long about so many major public policy issues that it would be impossible for them to cease lying. They are now fixed in the warped matrix they have erected over the last thirty years. Undoing their matrix requires their retirement.