How Politicians Lie

The Attack

"We need change! And I am the person who will bring that change!" is a famous one-liner that most, if not all, politicians will recite at one time or another. It matters not where on the bench they are sitting on.

Politicians have a strategy when they lie. It might not be a good strategy, but it is a strategy nonetheless. The first step is to find something to change. You might need to change the train system. You might need to change the health system. There is always something that needs changing.

But 'change' is not synonymous with 'improvement', even though that's what we associate 'change' with. We feel that change is moving forward.

"Society needs to change." Ehhh, 'no' it doesn't! It needs to become more accepting. 'Change' isn't synonymous with 'acceptance' (yes, I checked all the dictionaries).

So, once a politician finds something to change, they attack it by always mentioning it, by always promising change.

The Truth

Then comes the 'truth' stage. That is, the politician tries to convince you that their opinion is substantiated, that there is some veracity. This is not always easy to do, because it requires hard work, and politicians are usually busy doing other things. So, what they do is find facts through opinions. "According to locals", "citizens keep telling me", "the voice of the people has spoken" and other truths which are not truths (you might think that I am making these quotes up, but politicians have said them. I won't mention names because you can assume it's all of them)

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Politicians speak the 'truth' by using ambiguous words and antonyms. Ambiguous words like "there is no evidence that the train system is dangerous" (because no-one has bothered to look for any), "a fire of that magnitude was never expected" (because no-one has bothered to research), "teenage violence is on the increase" (ehh, not exactly, violence in every respect is profuse, be it entertainment, sports, movies, music. Stop talking about it, start doing something about it). And antonyms, "those responsible for the murder of the teenage boy will be punished" (you know who they are, name them. Name the damn problem), and "the rich are profiting from the situation" (be specific, please. Who are you talking about).

The Excuse

Eventually there comes a time when the politician has to answer for their actions, or lack of action (this is often called the 'pre-election period').

Here, 'the attack' and 'the truth' join forces to create 'The Excuse'.

"The opposition didn't allow us to create the new park" and "Dark forces stopped us," or "We have created more jobs" (lower wages, of course), "crime rates have dropped (using skewed statistics or not collecting enough real statistics while in office).

Whatever the excuse is, it is done offensively. Usually by shouting, and with a lot of flags, loud music and people (mostly relatives, friends, and interest groups) clapping wildly and photos taken from a special angle so that 10 people look like a 1000.

Politicians are gifted at lying (the ones that stay in office). Of course, this doesn't mean all of them. You can't have 300 Ministers of Parliament and 332 Municipalities and their Mayors and their staff, and the thousands of Municipal advisors and political entourage all be liars.

That would mean that we live in a society that is corrupt, sordid, and dysfunctional. A society that hears what it wants to hear.

And if you listen to those in power, you'll hear hope.

And if you listen to those who want to be in power, you'll hear hopelessness.

And round and round we go...