Mendacity: The political hypocrisy

A political lie is sometimes born out of the minds of overzealous politicians, and thence delivered to be nursed and dandled by the mob. Everyone is aware of the fact that the heads of political parties traditionally lie about their duties towards the people

“The vilest writer hath his readers, so the greatest liar hath his believers: and it often happens, that if a lie be believed only for an hour, it hath done its work, and there is no further occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect” – Jonathan Swift in 1710

By Zulkifli Nazim

Why individuals choose to remain silent is when they believe that their view isn’t held by the majority. This unwillingness to speak out is due to fear of social isolation. It is also due to the expected negative consequences of going against the perceived status quo. On the other hand, those confident their beliefs and opinions meet ‘public opinion’ can voice their thoughts without fear. This also perpetuates the silencing effect on those in the minority. 

This is based on the cues we have had from the mass media and our environment. In other words, we have a ‘sixth sense’ of the popular public consensus on a range of issues.

News was once a scarce commodity and it is still, in countries run by dictatorships, an absence of reliable, comprehensive and quality news. But in democratic countries news and information overflow on all sides. They are suffocating us. 

The Greek philosopher Empedocles said: “The world was made up of four elements: air, water, earth and fire. Information has become so abundant in our globalised world that it is now almost a fifth element.” Politics in its media-driven and prosperity-oriented format seems to have embraced lying as a necessity.

Today, lying by politicians have taken centre stage. It is undeniable that some politicians make all sorts of claims prior to an election, and then do the opposite after the election. Lying is ubiquitous – omnipresent. 

A political lie is sometimes born out of the minds of overzealous politicians, and thence delivered to be nursed and dandled by the mob. Everyone is aware of the fact that the heads of political parties traditionally lie about their duties towards the people. They have shocked their supporters and betrayed those who placed their trust on them and in them, beyond redemption, and deceived and disappointed us all and surprisingly politicians pay a very small price for their wanton dishonesty.

Lying on the Sri Lankan politicians’ scale is so unusual – so frequent, shameless and easily falsified, people do not know how to react. It is hard to comprehend someone who goes so far beyond normal, occasional deceitfulness. One reason political leaders lie with impunity is that there is no longer even a reputational penalty for doing it, let alone a real sanction.

There is one essential point wherein a political liar differs from others of the faculty, that he ought to have but a short memory, which is necessary, according to the various occasions he meets with every hour of differing from himself, and swearing to both sides of a contradiction, as he finds the persons disposed with whom he hath to deal.

So the age-old adage has to be revised to read: “You really can fool some of the people, all of the time.”

"Politics in its media-driven and prosperity-oriented format seems to have embraced lying as a necessity"

Our nation, today, has become a laboratory for mad scientists of propaganda. Politicians here can lie with immunity and impunity which makes us part of a global pandemic. Official government lying from the top has gone viral. False, weaponised and dysfunctional information will wreak even more havoc, literally affecting everyone in the country. 

Public life hasn’t always been a liars’ paradise, it now became necessary as a means to power. Politics is directly related to power. So, it is very difficult to find any politician who doesn’t have any attachment to power.

As the political theorist Franz Neumann noted: “Every political system impresses the mores, the conventions that embody the fundamental values of the ruling group upon its population. The greater the tensions, the more stringent the impositions become. The individual then resorts to many forms of dissimulation; and, in certain periods of history, it is the liar who becomes the hero.” 

While it may be true that everybody lies, at least at one time or another, but lies told by politicians and others in power are particularly pernicious, harmful and deadly, since trust is lost not only in the politician but also in the office he or she holds when the lie is discovered.  Politicians in democracies have always mangled the truth: denying affairs and downplaying the ill effects of their policies. What is new, is the degree to which voters are prepared to back leaders who seem to revel in their mendacity.

The governments in power campaigned on political honesty and made a big deal of the previous government breaking promises, accusing them of being liars. It then did the same.  You will see it in full form at the time of the next General Elections. 

They have already begun to spin unrealistic promises; and outright lies are so common that it has become the norm in the political arena. Politicians seem to have become lying experts, the premise of a democracy is ultimately broken when we don’t know what we are voting for. Politicians have indeed routinely served as the supreme examples of mendacious actors and politics means by definition nothing but “dirty hands”.

It is not unusual for the three traditional areas of power – legislative, executive and judicial – to make mistakes and operate less perfectly than they might. This is more likely to happen under authoritarian and dictatorial regimes, where the political realm is mainly responsible for violations of human rights and attacks on liberties. 

But there are serious abuses of power in democratic countries too, even when laws are the result of democratic votes, governments are elected through universal suffrage and justice is, at least in theory, independent of the executive.  An innocent person can be wrongly accused; parliaments can pass laws that discriminate against sections of the population and governments can pursue policies that damage a sector of society.

In a democratic framework the traditional media have often seen it as a duty to denounce such violations of human rights. Sometimes journalists have paid the price. This is why, in the phrase attributed to Edmund Burke, journalism is the “Fourth Estate”. 

We should not forget the fact that the traditional media have been a recourse against abuses of power within the democratic structures of our societies. Thanks to the civic responsibility of this traditional media and the courage of individual journalists, this fourth estate has provided a fundamental and democratic means for people to criticise, reject and reverse decisions - unfair, unjust, illegal and sometimes even criminal decisions against innocent people. 

It is the voice of those who have no voice and that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. 

Giving voice to the voiceless provides a critical role to play in improving the quality of governance, especially of those who have been previously excluded or marginalised on the basis of gender, ethnicity, geography, or other identities.   

In particular, people’s capacity to express and exercise their views has the potential to influence governance processes. By increasing demands for accountability and transparency, voice can also influence government priorities, provide an important corrective to public policy, and encourage consensus building on key issues of national concern.  

“Harming living beings does not earn you the title of ‘noble’. It is he who does not harm living beings that is considered noble.” – Lord Buddha.