Lies and the lying liars who tell them

I've been thinking about this a little since Peg said I should add it to my suggestions for an informed election. I'm sure its a good book. I think the survey results showing people get more and more misinformed the longer they watch Fox News is covered in it. What I've been thinking isn't specifically about the book, but about the lying.

All the hype lately about flip-flopping has really got me riled. On the one hand, I really think that we should not denigrate people for changing their minds. Once I thought having George W. Bush as President wasn't the worst thing that could happen. Now I've changed my mind. The thought that if someone in the face of new evidence changes their mind is in some way a bad thing is ridiculous. On the other hand, I guess what really disturbs me is the hypocrisy. They're all lying, all the time. We don't want to hear the truth. Lying makes us able to live with ourselves. Its as American as apple pie.

Show me one person who during the run up to the war didn't know we were being lied to and I'll show you someone that wasn't really paying attention. When Powell went to the UN he was spinning so hard I bet he had his own internal gravity. Lying is like air, its all around us and we need it and people that complain that there are lies should hold their breath until the lying stops and see how that works out.

And two politicians accusing each other of lying? and we get wrapped up in it? and even care a little? What's the joke? "How do you know a politician is lying? His lips are moving." Maybe it was teenagers and not politicians, but its just as applicable.

Last special, Chris Rock asked the audience "Who lies more, men or women?" We could just as effectively ask "Who lies more Democrats or Republicans?"

For men and women the answer goes like this: Men lie more, women tell bigger lies. A man's lie would be like "I was at Steve's." A woman's lie would be like "It's your baby."

Democrats and Republicans?

A Democratic lie would be like "I didn't inhale" or "I feel your pain" or "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

A Republican lie would be like "Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction."

I'll leave it to the class as an exercise to determine who tells more lies and who tells the bigger ones - and which are the every day ones and which ones ruin peoples lives.