Political Ponerology

From the Editor's Preface --

Let us assume that in a dispute, one side is innocent, honest, and tells
the truth. It is obvious that lying does an innocent person no good; what
lie can he tell? If he is innocent, the only lie he can tell is to falsely
confess "I did it." But lying is nothing but good for the liar. He can
declare that "I didn't do it", and accuse another of doing it, all the
while the innocent person he has accused is saying "I didn't do it" and is
actually telling the truth.
The truth, when twisted by good liars, can always make an innocent
person look bad, especially if the innocent person is honest and admits his
mistakes.
The basic assumption that the truth lies between the testimony of the
two sides always shifts the advantage to the lying side and away from the
side telling the truth.


Makes an extremely good argument for the exercise of our powers of
discrimination.

A J

So true, even in our own time.



On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 10:16 PM, A J Hibbard <ajhibbard@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> From the Editor's Preface --
>
> Let us assume that in a dispute, one side is innocent, honest, and tells
> the truth. It is obvious that lying does an innocent person no good; what
> lie can he tell? If he is innocent, the only lie he can tell is to falsely
> confess "I did it." But lying is nothing but good for the liar. He can
> declare that "I didn't do it", and accuse another of doing it, all the
> while the innocent person he has accused is saying "I didn't do it" and is
> actually telling the truth.
> The truth, when twisted by good liars, can always make an innocent
> person look bad, especially if the innocent person is honest and admits his
> mistakes.
> The basic assumption that the truth lies between the testimony of the
> two sides always shifts the advantage to the lying side and away from the
> side telling the truth.
>
> Makes an extremely good argument for the exercise of our powers of
> discrimination.
>
> A J
>
>
>
>
>