Big Lies
Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were big fans of the Big Lie as a propaganda tool. The Big Lie idea was that the bigger and more outrageous the lie, and the more frequently and incessantly it got told, the more likely it was to be believed by the public.
It’s pretty clear that the Big Lie idea is still very much in vogue. The last four years in America and recent events require a revision to the Big List of Colossally Big Lies of the 21st Century. In no particular order, but starting with two of the latest breathtakingly jaw-dropping whoppers and concluding with the Biggest Honking Blasphemy Ever, here you go.
1. We reacted quickly to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
2. The media is the enemy of the people.
3. Government can’t fix anything.
4. Unrestrained free markets can fix everything.
5. Economic prosperity trickles down from the top.
6. Tax cuts benefit the middle class.
7. The wealthy and businesses pay too much in taxes.
8. Corporations are people, too.
9. This was the greatest economy ever.
10. Ukraine interfered in our election.
11. Voter fraud is a problem.
12. Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
13. Charities can be our social safety net.
14. The wealthy give a lot to charity.
15. Climate change is a hoax.
16. Universal health care is socialism and a bad thing.
17. Native Americans got a pretty good deal when America took their land.
18. Regulation of business is strangling incentive, profitability and creativity.
19. An Electoral College win reflects the will of the people.
And now perhaps the biggest, ugliest and most outrageous, most despicable, and deadliest lie of them all:
20. Racism, oppression and brutality to people of color are not systemic things institutionally engrained in the United States.
Now these are just the most bald-faced lies that jumped out at me with not that much reflection. The Top Twenty if you will. The avalanche of lies coming from our government lately makes it a little hard to discern what stands out as the Nastily Most Grotesque Lies, frankly.
But recent events also suggest that Americans are about done with all the lying. We’ll see in November 2020.
