Microphones Aren't Magnifying Glasses

 

There is a condition common to most folks that is well explained by Malcolm Gladwell in a recent book entitled "Talking to Strangers". The condition is that our first reaction to what we are told, even by someone we don't know, is to believe they are telling the truth. Although we, to one degree or another, tend to be skeptical when claims get outrageous, we generally give someone the benefit of the doubt. That pretty much has to be the way we interact if we are to operate in a society where our daily interchanges, monetary and otherwise, depend on being able to trust one another.

This tendency to believe what someone says, even though they may be lying, does not always affect the big picture because liars are usually called to task when their lies are exposed in adequate situations. However, in the short term, a person who has found lies to work pretty well for their intentions simply continues lying with the hopes that their audience is varied enough to give them the benefit of the doubt.

A person I knew some time ago was that exaggerating type who felt the truth just wasn't interesting enough and therefore embellished most of what they had to say in hopes of impressing anyone who might listen. That person was a small-time wheeler dealer. By moving in increasingly larger circles, they managed to convince one bank after another that being loaned a little more money than the last bank had been willing to trust would be repaid, they were able to keep enough in their pocket to maintain their regular stool at the local gin mill where their lies were accepted as long as they paid cash. That person left a bunch of creditors scrambling for the inadequate assets that survived their time on earth.

This type of person is not all that uncommon. No doubt, a picture came to mind as you read that description of the pathological liar of someone you have encountered. People who lie have failed to outgrow the tendency of a child to be less than forthcoming when they know a punishment may be in store. George Washington's Cherry tree story has been discredited. I would suspect he told a few lies in order to afford escaping consequences. But he understood that lying has consequences of its own. That point seems to be lost on the mind of our current president.

When he campaigned in 2016, I paid attention to Donald Trump for the first time. Yea, he was famous. But the source of his fame, reality TV (what a misnomer), never appealed much to me. But now he was being considered to become the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. After listening to some of the debates, I attempted to identify why the rhetoric that was becoming the mainstay of Mr. Trump's speeches sounded familiar. Then the image of the end-of-the-bar pundit described earlier came to mind. That person also seemed to have the answer to all the problems and to know how to solve them if only they had a chance. Interestingly, that person was sure that all of the problems were the fault of someone else.

The problem of living on a steady diet of lies is that the next lie has to be big enough to cover the last one. We have endured four years of the lies getting bigger. All the corruption, nepotism and rudeness aside, we can afford no more of the incessant lies, especially lies that serve only the purposes of the liar. There are a large number of my friends who don't see this situation as I do and I want to understand why they believe lying about virtually everything is acceptable in the person by whom they would choose to be represented. Some have said, "It doesn't matter. All politicians lie." To which I would counter, "So do I ...and you." Lying is rarely, if ever, justified, but our humanness comes with a bunch of brokenness and the forgiveness that is guaranteed by Christ's sacrifice comes with His request that we sin no more. 

The person I described earlier was real. That person's lies affected a relatively small number of people. Not so with President Trump. His decisions affect all of us in this country and beyond. His microphone made his voice louder and enabled many to hear it. Unfortunately, a louder lie is still a lie. In order to be part of a reasonable society we must do more than listen. We must take the time to examine if what we are being told is true because we need to be able to trust one another. That requires not lying, at least most of the time.