Lies, downright lies and outright lies

"Liar, liar, pants on fire, hanging from a telephone wire," now that's a blast from our childhood. Today, it's become a common refrain used by combatants on the political right starting with the President and on the left starting with the fourth estate - the press. (FYI: The term fourth estate used to refer to forces outside the established power structure using medieval three-estate systems. Historically, in Northern and Eastern Europe the term referred to rural commoners. Today, it's the media.) President Trump can justifiably lay claim to ramping up the search for liars and their lies by repeatedly calling out the media for reporting a flurry of 'fake news' and now 'very fake news' stories about subjects ranging from Russia's involvement in the 2016 Presidential election to the dismissal of General Michael Flynn from his post as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Indeed, the President has become a kind of reverse lightning rod, shooting high voltage accusations at the media for not doing their jobs at vetting sources or for specializing in 'second-hand' or 'cut and paste' journalism. This is the style where reporters take stories written by others and then modify them slightly or run them unchanged without any substantiation or attempt at investigating their veracity. To be honest, the press has brought their low approval ratings on themselves by taking sides in the political debate.  They loved JFK and were lukewarm about LBJ until he escalated the Vietnam War. Then they hated him. They also hated Nixon and were amused by Ford. They were supportive of Carter...for awhile. They didn't like Reagan because he went over their heads, directly to the American people, and slaughtered a few of their most sacred cows.

They weren't particularly fond of Bush '41' because he was too reserved and didn't give them enough spice for their columns. They loved Clinton because he was hip and because he loved their spotlight until they covered his impeachment hearings. The press despised Bush '43' and characterized him as a cowboy or bumbling bumpkin. Then came Barack Obama and the media fell in love...again. It was JFK redux. In Obama's case, lies that came from the Administration or directly from the President's own mouth were dismissed as 'mis-speaking' or things 'taken out of context.'  Now, with '45' the press is enraged and on a crusade to bring him down.

The new reporter's handbook has basically re-defined lying. It is now considered anything that a Republican or conservative says that doesn't please the media. Gone is the time-honored tradition of checking and re-checking sources and tracking down facts. Media organizations that had previously cautioned their reporters to 'get it right' are now saying 'get it any way and anywhere you can, and if you get it right that's a bonus.' Occupants of the White House must also shoulder their share of the blame for doing that little sidestep that actor Charles Durning danced in his portrayal as the Governor of Texas in the movie, "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." These were some of the lyrics he sang as he sashayed through the Texas State Capitol Building: "Fellow Texans, I am proudly standing here to humbly see. I assure you, and I mean it - Now, who says I don’t speak out as plain as day? And, fellow Texans, I’m for progress and the flag - long may it fly. I’m a poor boy, come to greatness.  So, it follows that I cannot tell a lie. Ooh, I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don’t - I’ve come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step, cut a little swathe and lead the people on." Lying has become gentrified, rehabilitated. Everybody does it, so can it really be that bad after all?

Enter the downright or hypothetical lie - sometimes confused with an exaggerated outrageous statement said for shock value. It often comes with tongue firmly planted in cheek, into a statement that no one except the press would take seriously like Trump's own comments on his supporters' love of him ("I could almost shoot somebody and not lose voters.") While technically not a lie, reporters don't care. If it was an unproven hypothetical statement said to make a point it's as good as a lie to them. (In order to please the media, Trump would actually have to shoot someone and then have a poll conducted.) The outright lie is similar, but different, and it can depend on the liar's motives.

It can also be something said that is so patently over the top that nobody would ever confuse it with the truth - the kind of falsehood that makes people laugh out loud at its absurdity or rise up in indignation. The mainstream media is especially good at rising up because they have no sense of humor. The poet, Dylan Thomas, wasn't lying when he described how he thought we should age: "Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light." I fear that that kind of zeal has been co-opted by the media and our politicians and is being applied to lying, and it doesn't look as if things will improve over time as the rewards for telling the truth are few and far between.

Stephan Helgesen is a retired U.S. diplomat, now author and political strategist. He has written over 600 articles and six books on politics, economics and social trends. He can be reached at stephan@stephanhelgesen.com