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One provable lie - the Drug War: it’s on tape with Nixon and Haldeman I think. It was created for political reasons and despite their saying undeniably that they made it up - it is still a misused lie today that harms so many. The lie is what lasted.
Very little that Nixon and Haldemann said was in fact true. Ron Ziegler famously declared certain prior statements to be "inoperative." See Ron Ziegler | Watergate | The Guardian. Excerpt:
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Guardian
But the only one that reverberates down the years came on April 17 1973, and consisted of two short sentences: "This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative."
I think the list in the Opening Post are mostly complaints about the government, but not really abou the government telling lies.
The government has definitely lied to the American people.
We now know that secret activities take place at Area 51, even though the government denied that such a facility even existed for decades.
The government denied that it had any interest in Unidentified Flying Objects, claimed that such sightings were nothing more than errors, and denied that it had any investigation program underway, even though people knew the name of the program. Finally, after half a century, the government admitted that Project Blue Book had existed, but claimed that it has since been shut down.
I think the list in the Opening Post are mostly complaints about the government, but not really abou the government telling lies.
The government has definitely lied to the American people.
We now know that secret activities take place at Area 51, even though the government denied that such a facility even existed for decades.
The government denied that it had any interest in Unidentified Flying Objects, claimed that such sightings were nothing more than errors, and denied that it had any investigation program underway, even though people knew the name of the program. Finally, after half a century, the government admitted that Project Blue Book had existed, ut claimed that it has since been shut down.
There. Two distinct lies told by the government.
I think a lot is in the same category as the OP; situations where the government won't allow itself to seem impotent.
Of course which is why it confuses me while people trust that trash. I don't believe anything that comes out of their mouths including "grass is green".
There are innumerable lies told by governments since there have been governments. Certainly from the founding of the US government. Read up about the Whiskey Rebellion, in George Washington's time. Read up about the lies Lincoln told about the Civil War.
You can read Smedley Butler's War Is a Racket online - it's a free pdf. He wrote it in 1935. He was the most decorated mililtary man up to that point in time.
This is a short, little, very important pamphlet that everyone interested in their world should read. Certainly the original poster who posited this question.
"I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of the racket all the time. Now I am sure of it."
Received 16 military medals, 5 for valor. Is one of 19 men to receive the Medal of Honor twice.
Pearl Harbor, the Pueblo Incident, Oklahoma City Murrah Building, Iran-Contra drugs for guns, 9/11, 2008 monetary take-down - these are big, famous events with massive government lies.
There are innumerable lies told by governments since there have been governments. Certainly from the founding of the US government. Read up about the Whiskey Rebellion, in George Washington's time. Read up about the lies Lincoln told about the Civil War.
Right.
You can even start with the slogan 'Taxation without Representation'. The colonial leaders did not call for or want representation in the British Parliament. They think all new taxes should be passed by their colonial assemblies.
I think that in the past certain concepts and arguments, often false, were put forward by the government, or what passed as public media, as a way to influence public opinion and civic action. There was no other way to get millions of people to do or think in the same way. Yellow journalism is one example. We still have that but the rise of accessible information and the internet has cut the legs out from under that approach. But, as we have seen, that is also subject to lies, manipulation, and conspiracy theories. In the past we knew who was pushing the information. That is no longer true. Disinformation is a growth industry and both a strategy and a threat to national security and civil order.
The post below raised in an interesting issue. In other countries lying is taking for granted. Here, not so much, and when it happens people make note. The question is whether U.S. governments have always lied, and why.
That is quite profound and quite true but I suspect it has been true for longer than the past two years. Certainly since the turn of the last century, governments have been expected to be all things to all people (this is the makings of a new thread). People of at best average intelligence and without corruption on a limited payroll are expected to solve essentially insoluble problems. Or the problems are soluble with a huge expenditure of money and/or blood. Examples:
Spanish Flu (essentially insoluble, at least without disrupting WW I effort. Ended eventually by herd immunity at horrible cost);
Great Depression (not soluble in relevant times, financial issues from WW I were working their way through the economies);
Rise of Communism (fall of monarchies left a vacuum in countries not accustomed to any but dictatorial rule, and Communist system appeared to be and in fact was inherently greedy to gobble territories and people);
Rise of Nazis and Fascism (same as rise of Communism, also insoluble without huge expenditure of lives and money, solved when issue forced by Germany and Japan);
Post-World War II rise of Communism (immensely frightening, real action no possible because of perceived risk of annihilation, instead government lies lead to theatrical anti-Communist efforts, and theater wars such as Vietnam and Korea that costs lives with little result);
Rise of militant Islam (arose from vacuum created by "de-colonization") of Africa and Asia. instead government lies lead to theatrical a"security" efforts, and theater wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan that costs lives with little result);
The "climate crisis" (no matter the rhetoric, we are hopefully not going to plunge, lemming-like, into massive reductions in emissions for the joy of watching China and India replace those because they obviously won't self-abnegate for the "good of the world' and
H1N1 - Similar to Spanish Flu, government decides to ignore it with mostly salutary results; and
The bottom line is that governments are expected to solve all of these problems. Governments have limited resources with which to do that. An example of this kind of unreasoned panic that results when government offers no solutions; The Infamous "War of the Worlds" Radio Broadcast Was a Magnificent Fluke.
So what is a President or government to do to avoid hysteria? Lie of course.
they manipulate mentality in desired direction. I would not stop at US, it is everywhere.
Governments, on the one hand, are small groups of people who use myth to legitimize themselves as rulers.
Governments, on the other hand, are small groups of people struggling to keep their subjects from each other's throats.
The governing don't want to admit that they aren't really special, and the governed don't want to admit that they aren't really worthy.
Lies all around.
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