In a controversial passage in Plato’s “Republic,” Socrates introduced the idea of the “noble lie” (gennaios pseudos). He says that a majestic fiction could sometimes be used to help society by convincing uninformed citizens to do something for them. Since then, many prevaricators have used as an excuse the lie for the common good.
Our point man on the COVID-19 outbreak is Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci misled the nation about mask-wearing during pandemics by claiming that they were of no use. He claimed he lied to make sure the public didn’t get a run for their masks, deplete their supply, and rob medical professionals of protective gear.
Fauci also told “noble” lies about the likely percentage of the public needing to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. He kept raising the bar — from 60 percent to 70 percent to 75 percent to 80 percent, to 85 percent. Fauci believed that a lower number, even if accurate might lead to complacency among people about getting inoculated.
Fauci also lied about his own role in routing U.S. aid money to subsidize gain-of-function viral research at the Wuhan virology lab — the likely birthplace of COVID-19. Either Fauci was trying to hide his guilt or he thought the American people might not accept that certain health officials were encouraging research that was partially responsible in excess of 700,000.
Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, has repeatedly lied about the number undocumented immigrants who have entered the United States. He claimed that mounted agents were whipping migrants. He lied about the purported absence of federal data on apprehensions and detentions, as well as deportations. His assertion that the border was secure is laughable.
Mayorkas seems to believe that the public will go crazy or his own administration will be roundly despised if he revealed the bitter truth about the border. The Biden administration appears to have deliberately left it open by intent. It will likely allow 2,000,000 undocumented immigrants into this country during the current fiscal year.
Many other federal officials, including those who were not elected, lied over the past five year by claiming that harming Trump administration was in our public interest.
Former FBI directors James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and James Comey may have misled the nation. McCabe admittedly lied to the media that he had not leaked FBI information.
In congressional cross-examinations, James Comey repeatedly lied under oath. He claimed that he didn’t know or could not recall basic facts about himself in relation to the Russian collusion hoax. McCabe and Comey believed they could make Donald Trump more humane by being less truthful. America would benefit from this result.
Our ex-intelligence leaders were perhaps the most brazen liars. James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence lied to Congress regarding the NSA surveillance programme, even though he denied it. Clapper, who was caught in the lie, lied to Congress about the NSA surveillance program, but he lied again, claiming that he had given the most truthful answer. This was apparently to protect the reputation of an important intelligence agency.
John Brennan, former head of CIA, ditto. On two occasions he lied under oath about the agency’s monitoring of Senate staffers’ computers and the deaths of civilians caused by U.S. drone assassination missions along the Afghanistan border.
Mark Milley, Chairman Joint Chiefs, lied for many days about details of an accident drone strike that claimed innocent children and women were killed in Afghanistan. Either Milley is lying now when he says that he warned Joe Biden regarding the disasters in Afghanistan, or Biden is lying if he denies ever hearing such advice.
Many of the details of Milley’s conversations with authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa as reported in their recent muckraking book were abjectly denied by Milley.
This list could go on and on. Lois Lerner, an IRS official, never admitted the whole truth about the IRS’ weaponization. Loretta Lynch, the former Attorney General, claimed that she met Bill Clinton by accident on a Phoenix tarmac. This was despite the fact that they never discussed the current FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton. Robert Mueller, special counsel, told a whopper while under oath. He claimed to know very little about the Steele dossier or the misadventures at Fusion GPS. Both were the two catalysts that prompted his entire investigation of “collusion” in the first place.
When they are exposed and caught, some of these liars will try to cover their tracks by claiming temporary amnesia. Sometimes they will admit to lying, but they may say they did it for greater purposes such as national security.
In reality, their lies were not noble in most cases. They just spread lies to protect themselves and their careers.
In other words, “noble lies” are rarely spun for anyone’s interests other than those of the liars themselves.
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