was anyone else confused (and entertained) by the lies that the iraqi information minister told during the war?
you’d have cnn and the bbc and reuters saying that the troops had moved into baghdad and then you’d hear the iraqi information minister saying that u.s troops were committing suicide en masse and that they’d never even reach the gates of baghdad.
and you’d wonder, ‘does he expect people to believe him? i mean, he’s saying one thing and some fairly objective news agencies are reporting the exact opposite.’
and then i had a realization. people who’ve been successfully lying for their entire lives are so accustomed to lying and being believed that they’ve stopped thinking that at some point the truth might actually interfere with their stories. it’s like a big bully who for years and years has had no one stand up to him.
at some point he begins to believe that he’s completely unbeatable.
this helps me to understand some of the official news reports that come from certain spurious government agencies around the world. you read these reports and you wonder ‘do they expect anyone to actually believe them?’ and then you remember that the people issuing these reports have been successfully lying to their own people for years and years and no one has ever challenged them.
so it’s not that they believe their own lies, it’s that there’s never been any downside risk for them in not telling the truth. that’s why it’s so interesting when someone like the iraqi information minister proceeds like it’s business as usual and tells gigantic lies while international and fairly objective news agencies report otherwise.
one of my favorites was actually before the war started and the information minister reported that iraq didn’t have missiles that exceeded the range as prohibited by the u.n. but the information minister reported this after the weapons inspectors had found missiles that exceeded the prohibited range.
the real war may be dreadful and bloody, but the war of information has been pretty fascinating as of late.
moby