Where everyone cries "Wolf"!

The question why human beings, and not any other species, has been a hot topic for debate for a very long time. Fire, the opposable thumb, the large brain and god have all been given credit for man’s advancement, though it is widely agreed that the ability to create and believe in fiction did the trick for him. In a nutshell, every institution or instrument of value today- be it the concept of money or the bank constituted by shareholders and board members that controls its supply, and the structure and culture that defines that organisation, and the country which is the home to the establishment, are all figments of our imagination. They are there because there is a collective imagination at play here wherein all the people in the world believe it is true. And since this collective imagination has become the manual for day to day existence, anyone who can create new fiction or alter the already existing one even slightly can reap benefits for himself. This is the reason why we lie: A simple survival instinct.

Lying is treated as malicious, irrespective of the yardstick or perspective. Religions outrightly denounce lying. One of the ten commands is against lying and perjury. All Abrahamic religions condemn lying, and the holy books are flooded with tales of liars punished or smitten by god. In ethics and philosophy, lying is considered abhorrent and avoidable since it results in breach of trust. Folklore from around the world warn about the dangers of a lie. Remember the boy who cried wolf? The one who realised the power of the lie but was not smart enough to use it wisely. The story of his tragic end is still one of the lessons every kid gets from their parent as a child. Modern value education also focuses on truth as an essential virtue. In fact, from the society’s perspective, a lie can do tremendous damage to it. We can see how lies about jews has turned an entire nation against them during the world war II, resulting in the holocaust wiping out almost half of the jewish population from the face of the earth. A quote often attributed to the German Propaganda minister of the time reads “Repeat a lie a thousand times, and it becomes the truth.”

Children below the age of four think that there is only one universal truth which is the same as their own view on something. By the time they are four and a half, they develop a quality known as Machiavellian intelligence, when they become capable of lying in a convincing manner. As he grows up, he is taught to use this technique to survive in the world. He learns that the more convincingly a person lies, the better is his chances to manipulate his immediate environment. The most manipulative are usually the most powerful in the society. A common example of this phenomenon is the politician who garners popular support by making impractical promises. But looking at it objectively, is he not just using a common human trait artfully to gain competitive advantage? Zoologists have observed that the same psyche works in the animal kingdom too. Chimpanzees feign care towards the babies of other chimp mothers, and hug members of his clan to gradually lead and dominate over this others. Messiahs and godmen throughout history has claimed that they hear divine voices or possess magical powers to invoke fear and belief among disciples. The art of lying has always been used as an ability like physical strength or intellect, the only difference is that potential of the former is highly underestimated, and even if estimated correctly, rarely accepted.

Inability to lie is not a weakness. But ability to lie can definitely be a strength. Let us have a look at the tactful deceivers of mythology. The Mahabharata has various instances when Krishna used his wits to deceive the Kauravas, inorder to achieve victory against evil. Also, Yudhishtir who never lies, tells his teacher Drona a lie to have him killed. The Trojan horse was a big con trick. Zeus becomes the lord of Olympia because his mother deceives her husband. Similarly, in history, wars have been won because of the capacity of one of the parties to employ lies to gain advantage. Sun Tzu, in the ‘Art of War’ speaks at length about how deception can be ones greatest asset. Governments use them to retain power. Nations use them to further their economic or military agenda. Remember the winds that led upto the Kuwait war or the Iraq invasion? Or how stories emerged about the brutality of dictators in North Africa and the Arab world, when Muammar Gadhafi, the supremo of the largest oil producing country in Africa demanded gold backed dinars for oil (even the idea can severely damage the dollar!!)?

Even the big businesses, the empires of the modern era use the same methods to stay relevant. The difference here is that they do not simply make a false claim in public domain. Instead they repeat something that is not necessarily true many times without actually making those claims, until the public psyche begins to accept it as true. Thus the child who drinks bournvita grows strong and intelligent. And the uniform of Santa Claus bears uncanny resemblance to the coco cola emblem. It’s the same Goebellsian lie. And then the biggest lie of them all. We trust figures blindly before buying a car or purchasing land. We go through the database provided by financial companies about how we can be millionaires by the next Christmas if we give them our money. The biggest lie today is the numbers we see around us. Thus the saying goes, “Lies, damn lies, and then there is statistics”.

The ministry of truth, which Orwell talks about in “1984” is right here, right now. In fact, it always was. We had been fed lies ever since the day we have we believed the apple-newton story. Religion maybe collective lying. Literature is creative lying. And this is why it is better to be a skeptic than a believer of hearsay. The one who questions can shield himself from some of these deceptions. While we sit on a pile of lies, the best course of action is to debate whatever we hear, or whatever we see. Secondly he who is ready to accept that he could be wrong may find truth somewhere in his journey. All the dogmas we believe in, all the ideas and facts may be utter lies. If it is already proved that half of everything we used to believe in was wrong, what guarantee is there about the other half. And also be more accepting to differing ideas or alternate facts. Because it is alright to be wrong. Because who can tell truth from lie when everybody cries “wolf”!!