Truth & Lies

Hannah Arendt says lying aids the powerful and leads to public cynicism. She warned that lying by leaders undermines democracy. Truth is an uncontestable fact. Lies are not. Calling things you don’t like a hoax makes it difficult for citizens to cut through the lies, particularly when there is no evidence to support them. To deceive people, lies are wrapped in flags and slogans. In Orwell’s 1984, the main character Winston Smith writes, “Freedom is the freedom to say that 2 + 2 = 4. If that is granted, all else follows.” But Big Brother and the Party have other ideas. They force citizens, through torture and propaganda, to accept that 2 + 2 = 5. Truth is whatever the Party says it is. No, it’s not. The truth matters.