Defending the Lie Word

February 20, 2017

I don’t buy it – this whole notion that there’s some important subtle nuanced difference between a spoken falsehood, alt-fact or voiced untruth and the shorter clearer word – lie. Right, I’ve heard the “It’s not a lie unless the liar knows he’s lying” rule – but, please, that’s an obvious attempt to shift burden of proof to the unprovable. After all, how can we know what a complex sensitive guy like the Donald really thinks? He might believe every word he spouts – in which case, he never lies. Gak!

Nevertheless, our ever-tepid media continue to use longer, more complex, less focused synonyms for this innocent little word. And I doubt the substitution’s done to color the tone or balance the rhythm of our reading experience. No, this is discrimination – they don’t include it because they think it’s ugly. Well, that’s bullshit – it’s time for the word lie to step out of the water closet and shine like a gold platted toilet.  (I know, mixed metaphor penalty – 5 points)

Sure, if they start using the word lie, the headlines and news summaries will rapidly become riddled with phrases like “Trump Lies About”, “Trump Lied again” and “Liar Trump lied again today” and, hence, will be even more boring to read than usual. But, it’ll be worth it.

Remember, we’re trying to reach the 30 to 40 percent of the population who voted for the Donald. So far, they have resisted self-interest, common logic and sex scandals as reasons to dump Trump. Their resilience can only be attributed to the effectiveness of the repetitive conditioning they received through FOX News, Russ Limbaugh and alike. We need a counter-conditioning strategy.

Perhaps repeating “Trump lies” hundreds of times a day on the news over the next few years may reach some of them and help. I know, it’ll be painful for everyone, might not work, but hope springs eternal.

After one-hundred four long days, the republic could use a quick, Trump specific, solution, but lacking that, slowly building resistance, over time, is required.

In Peace and Justice,
osv