Newscasters are referred to as “readers”. What that means is that they have a teleprompter in front of them, and they read whatever is on the teleprompter. They don’t necessarily know what they will read in advance. They are very highly paid for a rather easy job. The challenge lay in the fact that they have to read what’s in front of them as if it is true and they believe it. The station’s editors are the ones who do the writing, and what they write, they tend to write with a bias. By bias, it is meant that they may emphasize certain perspectives while ignoring others that contradict the perspectives they wish to convey. They may actually even believe what they write – because they “feel” it! (Doesn’t make any difference if you don’t “feel” it!)

Former Soviet Dictator Mikhail Gorbacev once said; “A half truth is worse than a lie!” This writer agrees! Why? You can’t argue with the truth, and therefore, you can’t argue with a half truth, and yet, important information may be missing from a half truth. In an American court of law, a witness takes the stand and along with it an oath to “tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth – so help me GOD!” At one time, an oath before GOD was a very solemn thing to do, and it had profound meaning to the person taking the oath as well as jurors listening to that person’s testimony.

Today, perjury (lying under oath) is common place and rarely receives a penalty. Perjury is a felony that can be punished by up to five years in prison. Enforcing that penalty would cause people to think twice about lying under oath. The problem is that the courts are so cloged with cases and backlogged for months that a lot of things get overlooked because of the immensity of the problem.

Biblical law calls for a person who falsely accuses another to be punsihed with the same punishemnt with which he falsely accused that person. Lying under oath can have devastating effects in that it can lead to a guilty verdict of an innocent person, or it can free a guilty person. Either way, it is lying, and it erodes socieity’s moral fiber and undermines its functioning structure.

Today, lying is rampant thoughout society. People lie about their bad habits such as cheating, drunkeness, thieving, adultery, gambling habits, drug use, sexual deviancy etc. These lies leave those who are deceived as vulnerable to the consequences of their deception. Millions suffer every day because of these lies. Those who suffer include, citizens (corrupt politics), employers, law enforcement, courts, taxpayers, businesses, spouses, children, and in other words, EVERYBODY!

Lying, for all intents and purposes, is hypocrisy. For some reason in our society, calling someone a liar seems less offensive than calling someone a hypocrite. Possibly, as the quote at the top of the page implies, the hypocrite is sincere in their presentation of themselves. They actually believe what they say is true or what they do is right. They become so convinced in their own minds, that they cannot be dissuaded no matter how obvious you make the case against their hypocrisy. In other words, from being a liar, one goes to believing the lie, and therefore becomes a hypocrite which could also be equated with a mental derangement. Maybe that’s why it seems a bit more offensive? There is a psychiatric term to describe the problem – Pseudologia Fantastica!

Pensiamento Peligroso