As the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts." Yet in this election campaign and in some business communications, I'm seeing utter disregard for the truth.
As the numerous fact checking organizations like FactCheck.org have shown, both the Romney and Obama camps have been guilty of exaggerations and, in some cases, misstatements of facts. I was annoyed when a pro-Obama political action committee ran an ad that falsely implied that a layoff at a Bain Capital owned business meant that Romney was responsible for a woman's death. But I've never seen anything like the Romney TV commercial and subsequent radio commercial that claims that Chrysler is outsourcing Jeep manufacturing jobs to China. The false claim was outrageous enough to prompt the CEO of Chrysler to send an email to all his employees lest they think they were in danger of losing their jobs. GM weighed in calling it "campaign politics at its cynical worst." Even in its endorsement of Romney, the conservative Detroit News pointed out that it was "grateful for the extraordinary contribution President Obama made to Michigan in leading the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler."
Business lies
But deception isn't just limited to politics. I'm finding it in business too. A few years ago I got letter from a major bank offering me a free cash advance. There was nothing in the letter about a cash advance fee so I took the loan, even though I didn't really need the money. About a month later I saw a 3 percent cash advance fee on my statement and when I called to question it, I was told that the fee was disclosed in agreement I signed when I opened the account -- about 10 years earlier. Technically, the company may have been right, but it was morally bankrupt and deceptive. I paid off the loan and immediately closed my account, but I'm sure that didn't upset anyone at the bank even though I used that card for tens of thousand of dollars of travel a year.
Liars figure
I think it was Mark Twain who said "figures don't lie but liars do figure." I'm co-director of ConnectSafely.org, a non-profit Internet safety organization and I pay a lot of attention to surveys about Internet safety. As I wrote on CNET news, McAfee, a couple of years ago, put out a press pitch claiming "shocking findings of teen's online behavior," but the actual survey results were more reassuring than shocking. The press pitch completely misrepresented the study's findings.
Earlier this week I got a pitch from another company claiming "With kids spending more time on Facebook, there is more potential for them to encounter cyberbullying, predators, and a host of other security threats," yet when I read through the report and examined the questions they asked, what I saw was extremely shoddy research -- far below what I demanded of my undergraduates when I taught survey research at the University of Massachusetts (where I earned a doctorate in education with a specialty in educational research). There were no out-and-out lies in the survey report, but plenty of inferences that weren't justified by the actual data. For example, they found that kids who stay online after midnight are more likely to take certain risks, but even if that correlation is correct, it doesn't prove causation. They didn't even look at other factors like whether kids who stay up very late at night might have negligent parents or might be risk takers in other aspects of their lives.
Time for truth
It's time for everyone to insist on honesty in public whether it's from our elected officials, political candidates, businesses, interest groups or non-profits. Whether we're electing a president or buying a product, we want to be doing business with someone with integrity. I understand spinning and putting your best foot forward and I even understand the temptation to demean your opponent or competitor, but I just don't understand how anyone can get away with lying.
Follow Larry Magid on Twitter: www.twitter.com/larrymagid
2,000 years ago, Mencius noted that there was no difference between human beings and animals. Even in a Confucius’s virtuous gentleman (Junzi), the difference is very slight.
In competition and/or before a pile of money, such difference often disappears. This may be why for nearly these many years China had maintained nearly the same political system, Confucian Monarchy. In this system, all cabinet officials from the prime minister down to the bottom officials must have successfully passed the Imperial Examinations based on Confucius’s teachings.
Therein lies the problem with democracy whose top men/women come from popular elections.
What to do about?
the honestly WE ALL deserve and have the right to expect?
To me, this is one of the MOST important issues of our time...and EVERYTHING else flows from that.
They get away with it if we let them get away with it. The strange thing is, would you trust a friend who lies to you? Hire anyone for any purpose who repeatedly lied to you, as an employee, a contractor, a babysitter,or patronize a car mechanic, if you could not trust what they said?
Isn't it crazy to trust lying politicians when their actions can affect our lives? Everybody gets it wrong once and a while, but lies can often be seen to be deliberately constructed to mislead, and most politicians won't admit misstatements even when confronted with contrary facts.
How can they represent us when they won't even level with us?
If I can digress a bit, for me the ad just highlights how messed up our healthcare system is. If you get laid off of work, you lose your health insurance. If you then get seriously sick or injured, you can either roll the dice or go bankrupt. The ACA is a step in the right direction to combat this issue, and Romney has been very clear about repealing it if given the opportunity.
I think having employers provide health coverage is an inherently flawed system. But, until we can reduce healthcare costs, I'm not sure if we will be able to move away from it.
For the better, I might add.
All campaign ads should be required to be factually true and politicians should be shamed when they lie. The press has gone so easy on R/R - they have allowed Romney to reveal only 2 yrs. of tax returns and have not come down hard on the Jeep to China ad. The only defense against this kind of campaign is if it loses decisively. Then the strategy won't be used as readily again. The press isn't doing its' job.
What ever happened to TRUTH in Advertizing Laws...to protect the public from RIP OFF artists, and dishonesty convincing the public to "buy" bogus quality, even dangerous "PRODUCTS"?
That's what Mitt Romney & Co. are..Dishonest rip off artists, convincing the PUBLIC to buy/vote for the poor quality, even dangerous to the country, Mitt Romney "product"
Libertarians and other third-party voters have a greatly reduced need to lie to themselves about the degree to which their candidate is a liar, relative to the two mainstream-party liars. To be a part of the duopoly and actually have a chance of holding the land's highest office, you must lie early and lie often, as required both by your party and by the corporate money that funds your path to power.
If you want to tell me he doesn't lie as much as Romney, I can buy that. But doesn't lie at ALL? You need to be truthful with yourself. Just a few of many...
“We’ve excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs.”
Truth-O-Meter rating: False
“The vast majority of the money I got was from small donors all across the country.”
Truth-O-Meter rating: False
“I didn’t raise taxes once.”
Truth-O-Meter rating: False
“I made a bunch of these promises during the campaign. … We’ve got about 60 percent done in three years.”
Truth-O-Meter rating: False
“Not one of them asked me about Asia. Not one of them asked me about the economy.”
Truth-O-Meter rating: False
“For the first time since 1990, American manufacturers are creating new jobs.”
Truth-O-Meter rating: False
“The sequester is not something that I’ve proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed.”
Politifact.com
“Under Gov. Romney’s definition … Donald Trump is a small business.”
politifact.com
“I think it’s important for us to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration”
abcnews.com