Just by living we run into little lies all the time. “I forgot” is replaced by “the check’s in the mail.” Or there’s this one from the Internet you can see every day “If they tried to do that to me, I would punch them out.” It’s the would-be “Macho man” behind a computer keyboard. But these are little lies. Everyone knows that and everyone can see through them.
Glancing through my copy of the Virginian Pilot today I came across an example of the “Big Lie.” The Big Lie is designed to make a political point that isn’t true. It's often the opposite of the truth. It’s usually part of pattern that is destined to either build up a political view or to destroy a political opponent. The most notorious political propagandist once said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
So what’s the big lie of the day in the Pilot? This editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich 
perpetuates a lie that “Wall Street” opposes the financial reform bill passed by Congress.
perpetuates a lie that “Wall Street” opposes the financial reform bill passed by Congress. That’s a lie.
I know. I work in the financial services business so I have kept track of the bill. And while neither I nor any other person knows all of what’s in this 2000+ page monstrosity, I know one big thing: it’s supported by – and partially written by - the biggest players on Wall Street including the financial behemoth Goldman Sachs.
Goldman gave most of their political contributions to Obama and the Democrats during the last election. Goldman wasn't alone. Most of the big players on Wall Street skewed heavily to Obama and the Democrats. The head of UBS in America is one of Obama's financial advisers. Their contributions are needed for his re-election. Nothing in this bill will seriously inconvenience the big investment houses. Large institutions will always have a seat at the table when it comes time to draft legislation and they are quite comfortable, thank you, with rules and regulations that drive their smaller competitors out of business.
In the meantime, it’s useful for the present government that people believe the fiction that EEEEVIL Wall Street is raging against this bill, especially when the punch will be landed on Main Street.
And the Pilot’s editors are perfectly happy to play ball and tell the big lie. As a famous actor once said “It’s what I do.”
1 comment:
I am reading a book by the slave Frederick Douglas. He tells how one owner was teaching him to read but was told to stop to because a slave who could read would stop being a good slave.
What's true then is just as true now. Failing schools, an ignorant population, are to the advantage of slave masters.
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