W-etiquette Wednesday: Don't Lie

Lying is bad, unless you are being confronted by homicidal maniacs regarding the whereabouts of your children.  I think a lot of folks (Tea Party organizers, Republicans in Congress, and the leadership of the NRA) think the rest of us are homicidal maniacs asking about their children.  Otherwise, how do you explain all the lying they are doing.  Now, they will say that they aren’t lying, but if you aren’t telling the truth what are you doing?  A simple way of demonstrating that the answer in this case is lying is to look at some of the fun graphics the Tea Party and affiliated groups post on Facebook.  Almost every one of them involves a lie.

Example one is right on the front of the Tea Party Facebook page.  The quote is: “When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”  It is attributed to Thomas Jefferson.  The problem is that there isn't a shred of evidence that those words ever came out of Thomas Jefferson's mouth.  (for the proof, check out the Monticello Website).  These words actually seem to come out of debates about socialism in 1914, and were not attributed to Jefferson until 1994.  When you lay them over top of an image of the Constitution and in front of Thomas Jefferson’s name on the front page of your Facebook page, that is a lie. 

Example two is a wonderful little portrait of George Washington, underneath of which is a great quote.  You can see it below.  The problem here is the same as above.  George Washington said this in the same way that he chopped down that cherry tree.  Here is what he actually said: “A free people ought not only be armed but disciplined; to which end, a uniform and well digested plan is requisite: And their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories, as tend to render them independent on others, for essential, particularly for military supplies."  Just in case it needs to be said, when you change the words someone actually said or wrote to suit your purposes you no longer have a quote.  What you have is a lie.

I love example three, because it is funny, sarcastic, and anti-elitist.  Now, Jefferson actually did write the words attributed to him in the cartoon below.  They appeared in three drafts of the Virginia Constitution  but not in the final draft.  Nowhere on here, however, are we told that these words hit the cutting room floor.  Plus, in the background we have three snooty Supreme Court Justices promising to go against these words.  It is a great way to stir up anti-elitist sentiment, but doesn’t quite jibe with the fact that these same gun hating justices recently recognized an individual right in the Second Amendment that no one had ever found there before.  So, when you misrepresent quotes and suggest things that aren’t true in order to rouse people’s anger, you lie.

Example four is a great one too.  It connects the people opposing a ban on assault rifles with the founding fathers and the people supporting such a ban with the British oppressors.  It is brilliant, but ridiculously misleading at best.  First of all, a musket is an assault rifle just like a bang snap is a nuclear missile.  I mean, if you can’t see the difference you shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun.  Second, there are a few differences between the British Monarchy and the way it ruled its colonies during the second half of the eighteenth century and the Obama administration.  Third, to suggest that there is reason for revolution now is absurd.  In short, what we have here is not a lie … but a couple of lies.

Examples five, six, and seven aren’t great at all.  The idea that world leaders are either Stalin or Jefferson is idiotic.  The idea that there is something that connects Hitler, Stalin, and Mao to Obama is not only idiotic and patently false, it is offensive.  Is the suggestion that after banning assault rifles and mandating background checks Obama will round up and kill millions of people? This isn’t only a lie, it is a disgusting slap in the face to the millions of people the world over who have faced real oppression at the hands of real life brutal tyrants.  Maybe some folks should spend a month in Afghanistan or the Congo.

Example eight is not as hideous, but it is still silly and it is still a lie.  In what way would Obama qualify as a king?  Really.  If you are going to say it, let’s hear some support.  Are we talking about a constitutional monarchy?  Are even those kings elected?  Do kings risk falling off of fiscal cliffs?  You don’t have to agree with the president, but when you disagree and spout lies I assume you don’t have a real position and are just being obnoxious.

Example nine is catchy, but still false.  The Second Amendment is not a permit.  It doesn’t take the place of a permit.  It doesn’t permit you to avoid having your gun registered or having a background check done before you purchase a gun.  If you don’t believe me, pull out a few Supreme Court cases and a glass of lemonade and have a look see.  In the meantime, delete this one.

Example ten is intriguing.  This picture includes the claim that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican.  The proof for this is that his niece said so in one interview.  There is no other proof of this.  None.  None at all.  Most scholars dismiss the claim.  It is worth noting that the Republican party of MLK’s time was not the party of Lincoln anymore, as the Republicans had assumed the support of the formerly Democratic white southern establishment.  So, this would be a lie.

I think you are getting the idea, so we can move into rapid fire mode.  Here we have a catchy phrase you hear all the time.  Of course, in real life lots of things stop bad guys with guns.  A working education system stops them from appearing.  So do jobs.  Rehabilitation in prisons stops them from reappearing.  Active community groups do wonders too.  Of course, finding bad guys and good guys isn’t easy since they don’t walk around wearing black and white respectively, and probably don’t even exist.  Plus, it doesn’t take a bad guy with a gun to take a life, unless every person who has accidentally shot someone or killed themselves was bad. 

 This is beyond silly.  Think maybe the President presents an exceptional case?  Maybe?

Yes, there is just one reason.  Keeping track of guns wouldn’t be a reason.  Keeping them out of the hands of the mentally ill wouldn’t be a reason.  Besides, it totally makes sense to argue that guns shouldn’t be registered because bad things might be done with such a list.  We’d better get rid of car registration.  And that whole social security number thing …

So, Obama’s supporters are all unemployed.  Are we still saying this after Romney trotted it out?  Really?

Yeah.  Sure.  All those scientists, every last one of them, is in on it.  Them and the thermometers and the glaciers too.

Let’s review.  No one is trying to take away hand guns and shot guns.  Are we good now?

Yes, the only alternative to owning a gun is to huddle in a corner and wait to be raped.  

So, what we have here is a lot of lying.  To those who post these lies, I don’t see any people asking about the whereabouts of your sister while holding a gun to your throat, so can you cut it out?