Worthwhile Reads: Politics and Lying

It’s long been a truism that politicians will say anything they have to to get elected. But it seems to me that this has been getting worse. It’s no longer about promising the moon in return for someone’s vote – it’s about flat out bald lying. So, I thought I’d collect together a number of interesting pieces I’ve read on this issue in recent weeks, both about politicians lying and about the media lying. I’ll finish by asking for your thoughts as to why this happens, and giving you space to add examples or articles of your own. So without further ado, here you are:

Mitt Romeny Tells 533 Lies in 30 Weeks, on The Slacktivist

“Mitt Romney says many, many things that are not true. He says this despite being in possession of the correct facts of the matter.

Which is to say that Mitt Romney lies. A lot. He lies more than any other national candidate for office in my lifetime. And I was born before the Nixon administration.

This is documented. Proven. Validated, verified, demonstrated, catalogued and quantified. Mitt Romney lies.”

We’ve Been Too Tolerant of Lying from Our Politicians, on Atheist Revolution

Fox New Lies with Infographic, on Dispatches from the Culture Wars

(I’m aware that this infographic isn’t technically a lie. However, it’s pretty clearly constructed in a conscious effort to mislead.)

What do you have to add? Your thoughts, reflections, experiences? Other examples of politicians lying, or other articles you’ve seen on this topic? Thoughts as to why this goes on, and how people get away with this?

One thought I’ve had is that as long as each side has its own sources of media and information and believes that the other side’s sources of media and information are lying, well, it becomes really easy for a politician to lie and get away with it, because his side will believe him and not listen to the fact checking of the other side. This also helps explain why the two sides have so much difficulty even understanding each other!