{"id":6723,"date":"2012-03-19T15:18:38","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T19:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=6723"},"modified":"2012-03-19T15:18:38","modified_gmt":"2012-03-19T19:18:38","slug":"trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/19\/trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies\/","title":{"rendered":"Trying to change the world with lies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cThe Jimmy McNulty Gambit<\/a>\u201d is a fascinating post from Aaron Bady that ties together several disparate things while also provoking thought in several different directions. I\u2019m going to quote from it quite a bit here, but you really should go read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the beginning:<\/p>\n

In season five of The Wire,<\/em> Jimmy McNulty invents a serial killer and tries to use the press to spur a systemic reaction to an irritant that doesn\u2019t really<\/em> exist, but also sort of does<\/em> exist. Marlo, after all, is actually a serial killer, just not the kind that anyone really wants to actually try to stop. So [McNulty] invents one that the system really does dislike, the kind of sensational killer that gets people excited. \u2026<\/p>\n

McNulty\u2019s problem is not only that he\u2019s an unscrupulous narcissist, but that he combines that quality with a streak of good intentions, a kind of idealism and desire to do some version of the right thing. Cynics and fatalists wouldn\u2019t fall into this trap, because they\u2019ve never expected the world to be different, or never imagined that they could change it.<\/p>\n

\u2026 But McNulty\u2019s problem was that dangerous coupling of his belief that he could<\/em> change the world with the idea that he should<\/em>. And because the world he lived in didn\u2019t allow him that possibility \u2026 he rejects the reality he inhabits, the true stories it would be possible to tell, and decides to invent a new story, to imagine the kind of reality that will provoke the system into taking the kind of action he wants it to take.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bady goes on to discuss several recent real-life examples of those who have taken this path \u2014 of telling lies in the hopes that they will point others toward a larger truth. He mentions Mike Daisey<\/a>, who fabricated details in his account of abuses at iPhone factories in China, and Tom McMaster, creator of the hoax site \u201cGay Girl in Damascus<\/a>,\u201d and Greg Mortenson of Three Cups of Tea<\/em> infamy. And he ties in the Kony 2012 campaign, not for lying, per se, but for taking \u201ca massively complicated political-economic-military problem and [reducing] it to the narrative of a great white savior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind all of these examples of dishonesty or exaggeration, Bady notes, there is:<\/p>\n

\u2026 a broad field of objective accuracy: Foxconn is a terrible place to work, Joseph Kony really is a nightmare, building schools in Afghanistan is a good thing to do, and Syrian repression is no joke. Marlo really was<\/em> a serial killer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bady warns against \u201ceasy moralizing,\u201d about their failure to stick to the pure truth, because these folks were all in the same situation as Jimmy McNulty. Telling the truth wouldn\u2019t change anything. Sticking to just the facts wouldn\u2019t work<\/em>. It is their McNulty-like obsessive urgency to do whatever it takes to produce the needed change that leads them into their McNulty-like fabrications:<\/p>\n

Beyond the narcissism, this is where the lies come from, and where the belief comes from that a lie is true, must be. The truth is not enough<\/em>, these people think; I have to tell the story that will get results, results that will testify to their deeper truth<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But the deeper problem, I think, is that telling stories is the only way these people can conceptualize getting results. And because appealing to the public sphere to be scandalized and to demand reforms is the only kind of result they can envision \u2013 because this is how they imagine justice works \u2013 the story will inevitably become what it needs to be to appeal to that kind of conscience, whatever will appeal to that sense of the public\u2019s fickle taste.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here Bady\u2019s analysis echoes Rob Tisinai\u2019s discussion of Bayard Rustin<\/a>: \u201cYour means will shape your end.\u201d Bady says something very similar, but he puts it this way:<\/p>\n

\u2026 Because such stories are derived from their audience \u2014 and its imaginative capabilities \u2014 they will for that reason demand and privilege reactions to the problem that are maddeningly simplistic in their very imaginable<\/em> practicality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The core idea here of resorting to lies \u201cderived from their audience and its imaginative capabilities\u201d because \u201cthe truth is not enough,\u201d arises in our politics and religion and culture far more than just with the famous examples Bady discusses of those attempting \u201cJimmy McNulty\u2019s Gambit.\u201d I want to return to this topic again after I\u2019ve chewed it over a bit more.<\/p>\n

For now, though, just go read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Jimmy McNulty Gambit\u201d is a fascinating post from Aaron Bady that ties together several disparate things while also provoking thought in several different directions. I\u2019m going to quote from it quite a bit here, but you really should go read the whole thing. Here\u2019s the beginning: In season five of The Wire, Jimmy McNulty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTrying to change the world with lies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""The Jimmy McNulty Gambit" is a fascinating post from Aaron Bady that ties together several disparate things while also provoking thought in several\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/19\/trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trying to change the world with lies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""The Jimmy McNulty Gambit" is a fascinating post from Aaron Bady that ties together several disparate things while also provoking thought in several\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/19\/trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-19T19:18:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/19\/trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/19\/trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies\/\",\"name\":\"Trying to change the world with lies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-19T19:18:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-19T19:18:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"\\\"The Jimmy McNulty Gambit\\\" is a fascinating post from Aaron Bady that ties together several disparate things while also provoking thought in several\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/19\/trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/19\/trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/03\/19\/trying-to-change-the-world-with-lies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trying to change the world with lies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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