VERÖFFENTLICHT 12. MÄRZ 2022

Lies are a common form of communication between human beings. It is still disputed if animals can lie to each other – but since deception is rather common in nature, this may be so, at least between animals of higher order like monkeys.

Lies take place between at least two human beings. Self-deception, often called „lying to oneself“, is a special case closely linked to the phenomenon of lies - like speech is closely linked to the so-called inside-dialogue with oneself. It is similar, but not the same.

Immanuel Kant rigorously condemned all kind of lies. The famous example from Kant is: a robber looks for somebody who is hidden – is it allowed to lie at him about the hideout? Kant says categorically NO. This is the consequence of Kant’s sticking to principles instead of choosing a pragmatist approach: fiat veritas (iustitia) – pereat mundus (there be truth even if the world perishes)

What is a lie – and what categories of lies do we observe?

First of all a lie is not an error. You can only lie if you know that what you say is not true. In fact it is a lie when you pretend to know something while knowing that you don’t know. It is also a lie if you say the truth but at the same time strongly believe that it is not the truth. For a communication to be a lie it is essential that there is an intent to deceive others.

Lies of necessity: In a dangerous situation – like a war – a lie may be important for your personal protection. There are lies of necessity (the German word is: „Notlüge“) in case your life depends on lying.

Lies of contempt: if you want to show contempt to anybody then a blunt lie flying into the face is quite an effective manner to show this contempt. This is what Putin and Lavrov where doing when they lied at those who wanted to avert war: President Macron, Chancellor Scholz, Foreign Secretary Truss – and over the telephone President Biden. When the Russian leaders became progressively more hostile to the West they showed this hostility by an attitude meaning: I can lie at you as much as I want, you need me and you have no means to sanction this. I contempt you.

Lies of War: It is part of the „Art of War“ to deceive the enemy. Every war is also an information war. And in the battlefield deception is essential. But there is a danger to go too far and entangle with more and more lies ending up in lying to yourself. Russia denied that it prepared war. Every aggressor wants to dissimulate his intentions until the day has come. If somebody believes this while all facts on the ground show in a different direction, this is naive on the receiving side, because such lies of war must be expected. In a war, both sides need their lies of war. For an observer it is advisable not to believe anything that is not independently corroborated.

The web of lies: Those who believe that politics is a kind of war by peaceful means would accept that even in peacetime you should deceive any potential enemy. If you are paranoic enough to believe that everybody could be an enemy you will need a web of lies drawn over your whole society. This is what the Soviet society was: a web of lies – and 30 years after the end of the Soviet Union the professional liars are still there and took over Russia: former KGB and party functionaries, oligarchs, autocrats and right wing extremists: Putin, Lavrov, and their sycophants (including a certain Mr. Trump in Florida, who continues to admire Putin treasoning the democratic values that made America great).

Lies of convenience: sometimes the truth is unconvenient. If somebody wants to avoid untimely debates, if he wants to postpone dealing with some problems or just fears to loose an election, such lies help to win time and to cover up hidden conflicts.

Lies of fear: this kind of lies comes near to the lies of protecting yourself – children often fear punishment or being scold and lie about their misconduct – and some grown-ups are no better. Some fear the truth about their love, their health or their errors. These are lies that are normally not severely condemned, but they are damaging if the bubble is pinched.

Lies as a cover-up and framing: often lies are not about the real problem but serve to deflect attention from it by feeding a kind of bait to the others. In information war this is done by framing a topic in a way that the wrong debate is imposed on the adversary.

Lies of man-eaters about man-eaters: when the robber cries: „help – I am robbed“, when the corrupt denounces corruption, when the aggressor decries „I am attacked“ . This is like the man-eater crying „help, they want to eat me“ – These are the kind of lies the Russians use when denouncing Ukrainian atrocities while themselves commiting them, when reproaching Ukraine to strive for ABC weapons while Russia not only owns such weapons but threatens to use them. Liars denounce liars – excusing their own lies saying that there are lies on all sides – while they are the main liars.

Lies of diversion: these are lies with a certain intent: to distribute fake news that stir up emotions, making people angry or fearful, terrorized or incredulous. These lies are very popular in wars and information wars.

Avalanches of lies: here the intent is to leave people in complete insecurity, showering them with so much lies at once that it works like a denial of service attack on a computer. The wanted effect is that people tend to believe nothing any more – and thereby become open for more targeted lies.

Inculcation of repeated lies: If a lie is repeated often enough people tend to believe: something must be in it. If the lie is repeated by other sources and then comes back to the original target of the lie it looks like a new independent source (this happens quite often when some media copy fake news from another one. When it is distributed by many different media people think it must be true).

Half-lies: this is a property that makes all kind of lies more effective. If there is some truth in it that can be corroborated or is of general knowledge, then people tend to believe the whole message even if an essential part is a blunt lie. Often this kind of lie just tells you half the story omitting the part, that would give you a different picture. Whenever an American cruise missile hit a Taliban wedding with collateral damage, the Taliban from Quetta phoned Western journalists in Kabul or in Europe and gave their version – generally with grossly larger numbers of (innocent, civilian) victims, and omitting that leading Taliban leaders were there. When there were smaller, correct numbers later, this came too late – the original half-truth / half-lie persisted.

Poisoned lies: This may be even nearer to truth than the half-lie, but there is a line in it that gives the news a bias insinuating malicious intentions of the other side that poison the whole message.

Flattering lies: People like to hear what they want to hear. Every lie that is based on this self-love has a freeway to the hearts and minds of many people. You may believe everything about others if you are told that you are a real example of virtue compared to the evil others whom the fake news wants to denounce. Also flattering your overwhelming knowledge – „knowing“, what the liar wants you to know – helps the lie to win you over.