Quote of the Day: Live Not by Lies

I love the way you have presented this.

It is a concise but very exact commentary on what is lost in the process of having official lies as the primary product delivered by government and media.

A regime change through election is the only peaceful approach to turnaround.

Analects, Muller translation:

[12-7] 子貢問政。子曰。足食、足兵、民信之矣。子貢曰。必不得已而去、於斯三者何先 曰。去兵。子貢曰。必不得已而去、於斯二者何先 曰。去食。自古皆有死。民無信不立。

[12:7] Zi Gong asked about government.

The Master said, “Enough food, enough weapons and the confidence of the people.”

Zi Gong said, “Suppose you had no alternative but to give up one of these three, which one would be let go of first?”

The Master said, “Weapons.”

Zi Gong said “What if you had to give up one of the remaining two which one would it be?”

The Master said, “Food. From ancient times, death has come to all men, but a people without confidence in its rulers will not stand.”

John Stuart Mill:

But inasmuch as the cultivation in ourselves of a sensitive feeling on the subject of veracity, is one of the most useful, and the enfeeblement of that feeling one of the most hurtful, things to which our conduct can be instrumental; and inasmuch as any, even unintentional, deviation from truth, does that much towards weakening the trustworthiness of human assertion, which is not only the principal support of all present social well-being, but the insufficiency of which does more than any one thing that can be named to keep back civilisation, virtue, everything on which human happiness on the largest scale depends; we feel that the violation, for a present advantage, of a rule of such transcendant expediency, is not expedient, and that he who, for the sake of a convenience to himself or to some other individual, does what depends on him to deprive mankind of the good, and inflict upon them the evil, involved in the greater or less reliance which they can place in each other's word, acts the part of one of their worst enemies.

…we feel that the violation, for a present advantage, of a rule of such transcendant expediency, is not expedient, and that he who, for the sake of a convenience to himself or to some other individual, does what depends on him to deprive mankind of the good, and inflict upon them the evil, involved in the greater or less reliance which they can place in each other’s word, acts the part of one of their worst enemies.

Saint Augustine (View Comment):

Well, that depends, doesn’t it?

But the force of the rule remains: don’t underestimate the hidden damage to the collective when you do it. Even decreasing the trust of your enemy in your word has a hidden cost of unknowable extent, though lying to him for military reasons may be moral.

…we feel that the violation, for a present advantage, of a rule of such transcendant expediency, is not expedient, and that he who, for the sake of a convenience to himself or to some other individual, does what depends on him to deprive mankind of the good, and inflict upon them the evil, involved in the greater or less reliance which they can place in each other’s word, acts the part of one of their worst enemies.

Saint Augustine (View Comment):

Mark Camp (View Comment):

Well, that depends, doesn’t it?

But the force of the rule remains: don’t underestimate the hidden damage to the collective when you do it. Even decreasing the trust of your enemy in your word has a hidden cost of unknowable extent, though lying to him for military reasons may be moral.

Mill's very next sentence actually mentions that there are rare exceptions.

When I think about the problem of trust, government isn't even at the top of the list. People are indulging in tribalistic instincts and presuming people to be their enemies who probably are not. How many times do you hear someone say that so-and-so has a different opinion than I do on topic A, therefore he probably disagrees with me on B-Z, as well. I think a lot of people -- and no, not just Democrats -- ought to relax a bit and stop presuming nearly everyone outside their circle is their enemy.

Fine post, Rodin!