Political Theory of Lying in America
The significance of lying in American politics. The Americans, as a people do a lot of lying. America's currentpolitical system is overflowing with deception and corruption. However,the deception and corruption is presented to the public in such a way fromthe most respected and trusted sources that everybody believes almosteverything they hear on the news as if "that's all you need to know aboutit". Who ever controls the use of the shallow street talk controls thedepth of involvement the public will have in finding a solution to themultiple social dilemmas at hand. People are free to believe the opensociety lies told by the media. Americans are open to lies of all sorts,and the U.S. government is a democratically run democracy. How is itpossible for the U.S. government people to "help" write a Constitution forthe Iraqi people in six months or a year as they claim when it will take atleast two years of debate in Congress to decide if telemarketers sellingall kinds of unsolicited materials are "protected" by the Constitution' We are open to telling gigantic lies, and little lies, and leaving it
AsWhite House counsel, John Dean was at the center of the Watergate hearings,telling investigators that he had discussed the Watergate cover-up withPresident Nixon at least 35 times. "It has often become even more of interest to themedia than the reading or listening public. In according this natureto the "noble lie," Plato clearly recognizes - albeit implicitly - thatthere is a difference between the content of knowledge (which can beevaluated only in terms of its truth) and the form of knowledge (which canbe evaluated in other terms, among them its efficaciousness in producingcertain kinds of behavior). And at least you can derivesome truths about a president from the way he chooses to lie to you. Traditional lying is about hiding something; whereas organized lyingis about destroying something. But it sure as hell hasn't," he said. You can just see Bush rolling his eyes at the fuss-small as it is-overhis administration's role in the recent military coup in Venezuela. It is this which manychoose to see as the abiding legacy of Watergate. What thenbegins is the constant shifting and shuffling in utter sterility which arecharacteristic of many new nations that had the bad luck to be born in anage of propaganda. The philosopher-ruler's recourse to lies is a function of the practical constraints andrequirements which he must face in molding the city-state into its idealshape. They rarely hold up to their campaign promises, and itsalways the other party's fault. The Republican Party, the FBI, theCIA, the Justice Department, the Attorney General, the White House, andeventually the President of the United States all became embroiled in theensuing scandal. Today, false image-making can form a reality for everybody.
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