Everybody lies, and that is not a surprise. Lie transformed in an integral part of a human life long ago. Moreover, according to Brandon Gaille, people lie an average 4 times a day or 1460 times a year. Reasons for that are different: to get an advantage, to present oneself in the most favorable light, to protect one's dear persons from being hurt, to protect oneself from conflict situation, and so on and so forth. Those reasons justify the usage of lie, and thanks to that there are even spheres of life which are unimaginable without deception. One of them is politics. Lying is so firmly rooted in politics that there is even a joke, “How do you know a politician is lying? His lips are moving.” And even though no one likes being deceived, politicians'
…show more content…
Indeed, the most obvious factor that encourages politicians to lie is public which got used to that idea. In this way, according to the survey, carried out by the Levada-center before the 2016 elections in the State Duma, 78% of Russians believed that all high ranking officials hide the truth. Similarly, as stated in Rasmussen Reports in 2014, 83% of US voters thought that politicians do not keep their campaign promises. Nevertheless, people continue to participate in elections, acquiescing with how politics works today. Moreover, people prefer advocate dishonesty of politicians, appealing to the competitiveness in politics and the notion that the ends justify means. For instance, Dr. Ichak Adizes, one of the US thought leaders, stated that the more democratic the system, the more lying there will be, because a politician has to maneuver in a politically competitive environment. This idea is widely proved by results of democratic elections where honest contenders are often beaten by dishonest ones. To be more precise, Americans Ralph Nader and Ross Perot ran relatively forthright presidential campaigns, but the voters rejected them. Thus, it is believed that in democratic elections to be a deceiver is a key to success. Finally, some people also call attention to the features of political discourse which erodes the concept of lying itself. A case in this …show more content…
Firstly, politicians today are allowed to tell anything including absurd things. To set up powerful arguments, members of Poland's government assert that their previous president was assassinated by Russia, Turkish politicians claim the perpetrators of the coup attempt in 2016 were acting on orders issued by the CIA, while Donald Trump argues that thousands of Muslim-Americans in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks. They provide no evidence to their words, but for some inexplicable reason many people prefer to rely on such assertions which feel true, but have no basis in fact. That is why some people like an American author Ralph Keyes identify a new frightened trend in the modern world – a blurred boundary between truth and false. Indeed, today we all live in the post-truth era where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotions and personal beliefs. This is a problem itself, but it is aggravated by its dramatic impact on society. A perfect illustration is Brexit: the Remain campaign featured factual arguments based on proofs in the form of block graphs and pie charts, but they conceded to the Leavers who exploited people's emotions and especially their irrational fear of “the other”. As a result, the Leavers succeeded, but soon after those who voted for Brexit realized that they
Indeed, the most obvious factor that encourages politicians to lie is public which got used to that idea. In this way, according to the survey, carried out by the Levada-center before the 2016 elections in the State Duma, 78% of Russians believed that all high ranking officials hide the truth. Similarly, as stated in Rasmussen Reports in 2014, 83% of US voters thought that politicians do not keep their campaign promises. Nevertheless, people continue to participate in elections, acquiescing with how politics works today. Moreover, people prefer advocate dishonesty of politicians, appealing to the competitiveness in politics and the notion that the ends justify means. For instance, Dr. Ichak Adizes, one of the US thought leaders, stated that the more democratic the system, the more lying there will be, because a politician has to maneuver in a politically competitive environment. This idea is widely proved by results of democratic elections where honest contenders are often beaten by dishonest ones. To be more precise, Americans Ralph Nader and Ross Perot ran relatively forthright presidential campaigns, but the voters rejected them. Thus, it is believed that in democratic elections to be a deceiver is a key to success. Finally, some people also call attention to the features of political discourse which erodes the concept of lying itself. A case in this …show more content…
Firstly, politicians today are allowed to tell anything including absurd things. To set up powerful arguments, members of Poland's government assert that their previous president was assassinated by Russia, Turkish politicians claim the perpetrators of the coup attempt in 2016 were acting on orders issued by the CIA, while Donald Trump argues that thousands of Muslim-Americans in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks. They provide no evidence to their words, but for some inexplicable reason many people prefer to rely on such assertions which feel true, but have no basis in fact. That is why some people like an American author Ralph Keyes identify a new frightened trend in the modern world – a blurred boundary between truth and false. Indeed, today we all live in the post-truth era where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotions and personal beliefs. This is a problem itself, but it is aggravated by its dramatic impact on society. A perfect illustration is Brexit: the Remain campaign featured factual arguments based on proofs in the form of block graphs and pie charts, but they conceded to the Leavers who exploited people's emotions and especially their irrational fear of “the other”. As a result, the Leavers succeeded, but soon after those who voted for Brexit realized that they